Dance Among Stars
by SilverThorn-2000
Summary: Yumi's nightmares and the arrival of a new student hearlds changes, both in reality, and in Lyoko.
1. Prolouge

Dance Among Stars

SilverThorn-2000

Prologue:

Yumi blinked. She was in Lyoko, but she couldn't remember how she'd gotten there.

It looked like Lyoko's forest sector, anyways. But it was overcast, and beginning to rain. Those two facts both struck her as odd; she couldn't remember a time where the weather had been like this.

She sat on the ground, and blinked the rain water out of her eyes. The weather was getting worse, the rainfall increasing. She told herself that she had to get up, to find shelter.

She began to stand up, but stopped, hearing footsteps- slow, deliberate footsteps- splashing through the considerable puddles on the ground. She turned.

A boy, about her age, and about four inches taller, stood before her. She didn't know him, but found herself drawn to his eyes, eyes the color of the sea during a storm.

They were the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen.

"Do you wonder what it'd be like to go and dance among the stars?" he asked, stunning Yumi. "What? What're you talking about?" she asked him.

He continued as if he hadn't heard her at all. "We could jump into the void, be lit by the stars as we dance to the waltz of the universe, yet still return the place where we began...."

His voice trailed off, and Yumi found herself confused, then terrified as he raised a sword. She watched, in horrific slow-motion as the sword's blade glowed blue, then fired an energy bolt at her.

She screamed as it neared her-

-And bolted dead upright in bed, gasping for breath, her pajamas soaked in sweat.

"It was a dream. It was all just a dream." She told herself, looking out the window near her bed. The sun began to break over the horizon, spelling the beginning of a new day. She wondered why she'd have a dream like that...

-----

Later that morning, a car pulled into the school's drive, and a new student, a young man, was almost forcibly ejected from the car.

"All right! Geez! You don't have to push!"

His things were unloaded from the back, and the car backed out and drove off.

"Yeah. Love you too." He said to the empty air.

He began hauling his stuff to the dorm, a splinter of rage in his eyes-

-Eyes the color of the sea during a storm.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"So, what's his name?" Odd asked Yumi during lunch later that day.

Yumi shrugged. "Chris, I think." She took a small bite of her sandwich. "He's in my English class, but didn't say much."

Ulrich shrugged. "Probably the shy type," he stated. He looked over at Jeremy, expecting some form of comment. Jeremy remained silent, and Ulrich realized he looked a little tired. "Don't tell me you were talking to Aelita all night."

Jeremy nodded slowly. "That makes what, the third night in a row?" Odd asked aloud, before stating "You need some sleep. Take the afternoon off."

Jeremy saw fit to pass a glare at him before wincing in pain. Yumi put a hand on his shoulder. "Odd's right. Go get some sleep."

Jeremy sighed, sensing that there was really no point in fighting. "All right. I'll go and get some sleep." Odd slapped him on the back, jarring his glasses halfway off his face. "Good night, man!"

"Odd! Be careful!" Jeremy wailed, his hands scrambling to keep his glasses on his face. "Sorry," Odd said sheepishly.

The three kids watched Jeremy leave, and Yumi sighed. "He's pretty worried about Aelita, isn't he?" She asked, looking back to find Odd and Ulrich nodding in agreement. Odd looked around, before his eyes settled on a table nearby, and its lone occupant.

"Hey, look. It's that new guy. Why's he eating alone like that?" Odd looked at Ulrich, who responded "Probably because he wants to?"

"Ah, I'm going to go talk to him. Bug him a little." Odd got up, and Ulrich shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea." Odd just grinned.

The young man looked up at Odd's approach, an annoyed glare forming on his face. "May I help you?" he said, closing a black notebook, it's plastic covers slapping nosily against the paper inside. His hand moved up, through blond hair and bangs, before it circled around to his chin.

Odd grabbed the notebook. "Whatcha got there?" he asked, yanking it away. The young man grabbed the bottom. "Let go. Now."

"Name's Odd. What's yours?"

The young man stood up, glaring at Odd for a long moment before balling a fist.

Later, Odd would remember the fist coming at him in slow motion; that, and he never felt any pain.

The next thing anyone one knew, Odd was flat on his back, his left eye rapidly swelling shut, with the new student standing over him, glaring at him with eyes the color of the sea during a storm, notebook in hand. "It's Chris."

Chris turned and walked out of the lunch room, shouldering past Yumi as he headed for the door. Yumi looked around. The room was in near chaos, a soft roar of chatter about the events that had just unfolded. Odd was out of it, for the moment. Ulrich was helping him out. She turned and dashed out the door, trying to catch up.

"Hey!" She yelled at Chris' retreating back. "Hey!" She darted out of the building and stood on the steps. "What did you do that for?

Chris turned. "Why should you care? It's not your business anyways."

Yumi resisted the urge to jump down the steps and throttle him. "He was just trying to be friendly."

"I'm not here to look for friends."

Chris walked off, leaving an enraged Yumi standing on the steps.

------------

"I can't believe he did that!"

Ulrich sat against the cool brick and watch Yumi pace and rant. "Calm down. Odd'll recover."

"He gave Odd a black eye over a stupid notebook!" Ulrich sighed at Yumi's infuriated yell. "What if it's his journal? How would you react?"

Yumi glared, the sighed, allowing herself to calm down. "You're right. Maybe I should apologize."

It was at that point that their cell phones went off. "Guess it'll have to wait," Ulrich said. "Looks like we've got to deal with XANA first."

------------

"Scan Ulrich!"

Jeremy felt as though he would collapse, he was so tired. But he had to deal with the trouble in Lyoko first.

"Scan Yumi!" He tapped in the key code to initiate the final phase. "Virtualization!"

He looked over the maps. "All right the tower's just ahead- huh?" He blinked at the readings. "Guys? Somebody else is there."

--------------

"What do you mean someone else is here?" Ulrich asked the empty air, though he had no doubt Jeremy heard him.

_"Just what I said. Off to the left, on the hill."_ Jeremy's voice said.

"Get Aelita to the tower. I'll go check it out."

Yumi opened her mouth to protest, but Ulrich had already darted off up the hill.

Ulrich ran as best he could through shin-deep snow, taking deep breaths of virtual air as arrived at the top. What he saw wasn't something he'd been prepared for.

It was somebody else. "Jeremy, can you get a lifepoint reading?"

_"No...it's almost like he doesn't exist..."_

Ulrich glared angrily. "Who are you?"

The figure turned, and Ulrich got his first good look at the person.

He stood, a dark blue scarf disguising his lower face, blonde hair that was longer in the bangs than the back. He wore a black gi, with an armored vest that matched the scarf in color. The shins of the gi's pants were wrappend in dark blue cloth, and he wore black tabai shoes.

The vest covered his shoulders loosely with it's shoulder guards. Both forearms were wrapped like his shins. In his left hand was a traditional long sword.

His grey-blue eyes bored into Ulrichs. "It's strange...You and I are so alike..."

"What?" Ulrich asked.

"Another time, perhaps, we shall see who's skills are better. Your friend is in trouble now."

Ulrich turned and looked. Yumi was in trouble, having been pinned down by XANA's robotic minions. He turned back in time to watch the stranger jump from the hill and vanish into de-virtualization.

"Jeremy? He's gone."

---------

It had been another close call, Jeremy reflected. But most disturbing was this newcomer. He shrugged it off for a moment, long enough to do what had to be done. "Return to the past, now!"

There was a blinding flash of light, and they were back in the lunch room before Odd had been hit.

"Whoah." Odd said, shaking his head to clear it. Ulrich laughed. "Guess that's a first for you, huh?"

Odd nodded, and then everyone noticed Yumi's distraction. "Yumi? Is everything okay?" Ulrich asked, laying a hand on her shoulder. Yumi shook her head.

"Where's Chris?"

----------

In his dorm room, Chris wrote notes into the journal he kept, detailing what had just happened. It was always good to keep records of this kind of thing.

----------

In the depths of Lyoko, in a place none of the kids had ever seen, XANA sat and plotted. This newcomer fascinated him. Was he a friend, or was he a foe?


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Yumi glanced at Chris across her English class. He scribbled in his notebook, but took notes for the class on a separate sheet of paper. She wondered what was in that notebook that was so important to him. She leaned over and glanced-

And promptly regretted her actions, for two reasons. One was that Chris had slammed the cover shut, just as he had done to Odd the previous day. The second was that the teacher spotted her.

"Well, Yumi. Since you've apparently got such in intrest in Chris, you can learn more about him after diner. You both have kitchen duty tonight." The teacher glared over the rims of her bifocals at them.

"What'd I do?" Chris half-asked, half-whined.

"Your notebook closure was a disruption to the class!"

"Disruption? What're you talking about?" Chris cried out.

The teacher continued to glare. "Kitchen duty, you two."

"Oh, come on!" Yumi glanced at Chris, watched his hands ball into fists. It was obvious he was choking a lot of anger back down. He said no more protests.

------

"Kitchen duty?" Odd sputtered, looking shocked.

"Yeah. All because I tried to sneak a peak at whatever's in that notebook of his. What's he got in there that's such a secret, anyways?" Yumi said, setting her chin on the back of her hand and glancing luridly over at Chris, who was seated across the cafeteria.

Chris glared back for a long instant before going back to whatever he did in the notebook.

"Hey, Odd, why don't you go ask him what he's doing? Worst he can do is give you another black eye, right?" Ulrich said with a chuckle, earning a glare from both Jeremy and Odd. Yumi was too distracted to notice.

Chris stood up and gathered his stuff. He began walking for the door, pausing near the gang's table. He glared right at Yumi, and she gasped.

He had the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen, eyes the color of the sea during a storm. There was also just as much turmoil in them, and he turned and walked away. Yumi stared after him.

After a long, long moment, Ulrich waved his hand in Yumi's face, bringing her back to reality. "What was that about?" he asked.

"Guys, you won't believe this, but I've seen him before..."

--------

"This is all your fault."

Chris' accusation didn't have to travel far. Yumi was standing right next to him. She didn't respond, which gave Chris the leeway he needed to continue ranting.

"What is it with you guys? I don't read your diary or your friend's journals. Why do you guys take such an interest in my sketchbook?"

Yumi blinked, almost dropping the plate she was working on. "Sketchbook? Why do you keep your sketchbook so secret?" Chris glared. "Because it's personal stuff. I don't like people looking at it."

She sighed and went back to washing dishes, while Chris continued. "I mean, first your friend, now you...." That brought Yumi's head around. "What?"

"Hm?" Chris hummed more than said the word. Yumi put the plate back in the dish water. "You said 'first your friend, now you'. What did you mean by that?"

"No, I didn't." Yumi shook her head in exasperation. "What is your problem, anyways?!" she bellowed.

Chris stopped dead, his eyes closed for a long moment. He finally opened them and set down the bowl he'd been drying before leaning against the kitchen counter. "What is my problem? It's a long story, and I wouldn't want to bore you with it." He turned to get back to work, but Yumi placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Tell me. Please."

Chris sighed, and stopped working. "All right, I'll tell you."

---------

"And they just dumped you here?" Yumi asked, horrified. Chris nodded. "That's right. Dad convinced mom to get me sent here because he and I don't get along."

Yumi was surprised, to say the least, that any parent could treat their child like that. Her parents treated her with nothing but kindness and respect, but she hadn't imagined this...

"The man isn't there for fifteen years of my life, and then he just shows up one day and expects me to be all hearts and stars for him...feh." Chris let himself slump to the ground with a sigh. "First time I ever saw the SOB was in an unframed photograph a couple years ago. Just a name and date on the back. Mom never even bothered to frame it."

Yumi allowed herself to sit on the ground near Chris. "It must've been hard, going through all that." Chris shook his head, and wiped away a stray tear. "Nah. The hardest part was sitting here and telling you all this."

"Don't you have any friends?" Umi asked, then quickly added "At home, I mean." Chris shook his head. "Nope. Nobody aside from my mom that I really cared about." Yumi shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Chris sighed again, and stood up. "Come on, we'd better get to work before Commodore Coconut shows up and chews us out." Yumi arched an eyebrow. "Commodore Coconut. Jim. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside."

Yumi rolled her eyes and went back to work, resisting the urge to giggle at the name Chris used for Jim.

"Chris?"

"Hm?" Chris looked over at her while stacking a bowl perfectly behind him. "Have we met before? I feel like we have..." Yumi trailed off, not wanting to alienate him. "Yumi, isn't it? No, I don't think we have. You're the first girl with that name I've met." Chris replied softly, taking a plate and drying it off.

Yumi nodded, turning back to her work. "Have you ever heard of a place called Lyoko?" Chris stopped for a moment before shaking his head. "No, can't say I have. Why?"

"Just wondering."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Yumi sat at the lunch table, watching Chris draw in his sketch book a couple tables away. It wasn't until Odd snapped his fingers in her face that she realized they'd asked her something.

"I asked if you'd figured out what his problem was." Ulrich said, causing Umi to blush a fierce shade of crimson. She pondered for a moment. "Chris said he really didn't want me to talk about it, said he didn't want the sympathy...I could ask him if it'd be all right, though..."

Odd shrugged in tentative agreement, and Ulrich sighed. "Why don't you just tell us anyways?" Ulrich snapped. "It's not like he can hear you from where he is, any-" He stopped as a mechanical pencil bounced off his forehead. Jeremy and Odd began chatting about the latest computer games as a shadow fell across the table. Ulrich and Yumi glanced up to see Chris standing over them.

"Actually, I can hear you quite well." He said before retrieving his pencil and returning to his sketchbook. Ulrich fumed for a moment before jumping up and striding over to Chris. Yumi whirled around with an objection half formed in her throat, but found it choked as Ulrich punched him.

Chris's head snapped up, but rolled slowly forward, a glare on his face and a dark rage in his eyes. His frown deepened as his arm cocked back before shooting forward, striking Ulrich in the gut.

Ulrich doubled over as Chris stood up and raised his arms. "Chris! Stop!"

Yumi's cry caught him in mid motion, but her halted his attack and stepped back. "As you wish." Ulrich glanced up, looking at Chris for a long moment before he shot his foot up and caught Chris in the chin. "Ulrich!" Yumi cried, but to no avail. Her friend struck at Chris again, who moved only to defend. "Yumi, do you mind? I'm gonna be creamed if I can't hit back!"

Yumi felt tears welling in her eyes, as she watched Chris' motions. Both boys snapped into fighting positions, but the fight ended rapidly, with two broad strokes and Ulrich landing flat on his back.

Chris placed his foot on Ulrich's test, but put no weight on it. "Yield." It was a command, not a question. Ulrich nodded, and Chris yanked him to his feet. Yumi blinked back the tears as she watched Chris bow and turn away from Ulrich, who stood stunned.

"Bok pai..." he gasped. "Where'd you learn..."

"I've been taking lessons from sifu Chang since I was five. Old habits dying hard, you know?" Chris grinned and walked away.

Ulrich shook his head, and looked at Yumi. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..." Yumi turned away, and Ulrich reached for her, but she wrenched herself loose from her grasp. "Go away...I don't want you to see me....Go...." Yumi ran out the doors Chris had left only moments before.

Ulrich could only watch her go as Jeremy and Odd looked at him in silence.

* * *

Yumi sat beneath a tree in the woods that bordered the school; her sobs echoed all around her. She wished she knew why she felt so miserable about the fight. It was also the first time she'd ever seen Ulrich act like that, and it scared her....

"Yumi?" A voice asked her softly, and she looked up. Chris was there kneeling by her side, a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Why?" she asked him softly, and Chris sat next to her with a shrug. "Why'd I hit back? Shades of my dad's abuse, I suppose. I'm tired of being a victim. Why did I ask you to fight? Because I didn't want to hurt your friend."

She shook her head. "No, why do I care about you fighting? Why does seeing Ulrich act like that scare me?"

Chris shook his head. "I don't know, Yumi, I don't know. What I do know is that you're my only friend here, and I don't want to see you hurting." She looked up at him, and for a long moment, was silent.

The she shot forward and hugged Chris tightly. Chris felt his face flush. Clumsily, he returned her hug, being careful not to hold her too tightly.

Nearby, Ulrich frowned before turning around and stalking off.

* * *

The next day, Chris stood there in his PE uniform before class, feeling a little foolish. It wasn't so much that the uniform didn't fit- it was a little bit big, to tell the truth- but more that purple and yellow just weren't his colors.

His thoughts were interrupted by Ulrich yanking him around. "Can I help you?" he asked Ulrich softly.

"Stay away from Yumi." Ulrich warned him sternly, and Chris frowned. "She hugged me. It's no reason to be jealous." Ulrich shoved him. "Shut up. Or are you looking for a rematch?"

Chris sighed. He really hadn't wanted to do this, if only because it would upset Yumi more than she already was. Ulrich was pushing for it, and Chris made the decision to finish this here and now.

Odd was standing there, trying to dissuade Ulrich, but Ulrich shoved him back. Chris reached down, and tore a single strip of cloth off his jersey. He reached up and tied it around his head, so as to keep his bangs out of his face. "Since you seem to be spoiling for a fight, I'll give it to you. Show me that burning fist again, Ulrich. Show me what you're truly capable of."

Ulrich reared back, bringing his hands around- "Fu Chiao Pai. Tiger style. Interesting."

Ulrich smiled. "Only as interesting as your crane style." Chris returned the smile, as he shifted into crane stance, followed by stretching himself out into the normal stance.

The fight started out slowly, but rapidly moved into a frenzied dance of punch and kick, block and counter attack. Ulrich would move in to claw his eye, Chris would block with one, using the other to perform a crane strike to his midriff.

Chris didn't notice the crowd that gathered around them, but Ulrich did, and it rapidly began to show.

* * *

Yumi was between classes when she noticed the crowds. It was also the same time Jim noticed, and both tore across the campus as fast as their legs could carry them.

Yumi let out a startled cry as she saw what was going on. Chris and Ulrich were fighting again, and this time neither was holding back. The crowd was cheering it on, to her horror, and Ulrich was looking pretty haggard. Jim hesitated before beginning to wade in, but the fight ended before that.

Chris had just countered Ulrich, knocking him flat on his back again. "Enough!" he yelled, the single word silencing the crowd. "The fight is over, Ulrich. You're not able to continue."

Ulrich was baffled. "What do you mean?" Chris gestured around them. "Too many minds, too many distractions. No mind, Ulrich. Void. Only when you've mastered that, may we continue." Chris turned, and the crowd parted. He looked back at Odd and Jeremy who were helping Ulrich up. "And next time, let's find a better arena than in the middle of the campus."

He strode off, and Yumi looked back at Ulrich before running off after him.

* * *

Ulrich stood outside the Boy's Dorm that evening, talking softly with Odd and Jeremy about the fight. The principal hadn't punished either of them, mostly because Chris had put himself in a self-imposed house arrest since then. Yumi had cut a class to spend some time interrogating Chris about why they'd been fighting, but nobody'd seen him otherwise.

"Ulrich!"

Ulrich looked up at Chris, who was leaning out his window with a book in hand. "Catch!" The book dropped, and Ulrich caught it expertly. He looked down. It was a copy of _Book of the Five Rings_, by Musashi Miyamoto.

"I think you'll enjoy it," Chris said, backing up and closing his window.

Yumi walked up and looked at the book in Ulrich's hand. "What's that?"

"Chris' version of offering advice, I guess."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It had been nearly a week since the fight, and night found Yumi staring up at ceiling of her room, thinking about things.

XANA had attacked twice in the past week, and each time their mysterious new ally had shown up and helped them out, even if it was just taking out one of XANA's monstrosities. And weirder still, Chris seemed to remember everything from before the time resets.

But to do that, he would've had to been in either the supercomputer chamber or a virtualization capsule, and she hadn't seen him lurking about the factory. Though oddly enough, he always seemed to disappear before they found out about whatever trouble XANA'd cooked up.

It wasn't that which caused her to remain awake; rather it was the tension between Ulrich and Chris that prompted it.

She cared deeply for Ulrich, yes, but something made her care just as deeply for Chris. She didn't know what it was, which scared her. The fact that both boys had picked up on the fact terrified her; they'd nearly come to blows on four separate occasions since the last time they'd fought.

It was enough so that Chris kept his distance from Ulrich under any and all circumstances, including lunch and dinner, which wounded Yumi even more. She wanted the two to be friends, true, but she didn't want to be caught in the middle of their fighting.

She glanced out her window, in the direction of the school, and felt a soft tear slid silently down her cheek. She forced herself to stop crying. She looked up at the boy's dorm and looked. One of the windows was open, and someone sat in it, glancing out over the houses.

Neither Odd, Jeremy, nor Ulrich had rooms on that side of the building, and she'd never seen an occupant in that particular room. She reached under her bed and grabbed a pair of binoculars- innocently used for bird watching, she'd told her parents and Ulrich- and looked.

It was Chris, sitting there in a tank top and pajama pants, one foot dangling out the window. His lips were moving in such a way to suggest he was singing something. Her fingers quietly undid the window latch and slid it upwards, listening to the voice almost too soft to hear that drifted on the late spring breeze. He was singing, and she strained to hear the words:

_"But I follow your steps,  
In the same way that you just walked away,  
And blocked the way through.  
I...will...not...live!"_

Yumi blinked at the force in his words, wonder whether it was the song or his emotions driving them. She wiped a single tear from her eyes, wondering what kind of hurt was in his heart, that he was hiding.

The next part caught her off guard.

_"Do you think of me?  
Do you dream of me?  
I always dream about you.  
  
Do you think of me?  
Do you dream of me?  
I always dream about you."_

She looked at him, watching as the clouds uncovered the moons, shining a clear, brilliant white light down on him, making him look like an angel without wings...

_"All that lies in me,  
All that dies in me.  
How can I live without you?  
All that lies in me,  
All that dies in me.  
How can I live without you?"_

She wondered who he was pining for with that song as she rolled over and closed her eyes. In her dreams, Chris sang for her....

* * *

Yumi awoke to the scent and sound of fresh fallen rain, and looked out her window. A cool gust of air ruffled her hair, but she smiled and shrugged it off. She quickly took a shower, got dressed, and left for school, the words to Chris' song circling in her mind, and she found herself humming along to the tune.

Chris looked like he'd slept well, for someone who'd been up as late as he had. He smiled at Odd and Jeremy as he passed them. Ulrich scowled, but Chris didn't even look at him. He walked right up to Yumi. "Uh, Yumi? Can I talk to you at lunch?"

Yumi blinked. This was kind of unexpected, and she smiled. "Yeah, sure, what about?"

"Sketchbook. There's some things in there that I want you to see."

Yumi nodded. "Woods okay?"

"Perfect."

* * *

Class saw both Chris and Yumi being quite restless. While it was unusual for Yumi to be restless about anything, Chris was always restless. Today it was worse; he simply couldn't sit still, he was so anxious.

But finally the lunch bell rang, and saw the two sprinting for the woods as fast as their legs could carry them.

Yumi arrived to find Chris leaning back against a tree, his green vest wadded up and stored behind his head. He smiled and held up the sketch book as she sat down. "The page with the sticky tab on it."

She flipped it opened, and released a strangled gasp. It was a drawing of her, dated nearly two months ago. Scribbled next to the sketch were the words "Girl from dream."

She looked up. "Dream?" She managed to squeak out, nearly dropping the sketch book. He nodded. "Yeah, there's more. Take a look."

There were more drawings, some of the school, some of Lyoko, a couple of the factory, but several of them were of her, and she blushed. "Wow..." she managed, looking up at Chris with a nearly crimson face.

"Yeah, weird, isn't it?" He looked at her, and for the first time, she realized he was blushing just as badly. Chris closed the sketch book and slid it back into his pack.

He smiled as he stood and quickly ran off. Yumi sighed, when she suddenly felt she was being watched. She looked around, and saw Ulrich giving her a venomous glare. She stood up, called out his name, but he ignored her and walked away.

* * *

Yumi didn't see Chris the rest of that day, And Ulrich refused to speak to her, which left her feeling a little alone. She went into the boy's dormitory to talk to Ulrich about what had happened during lunch. She arrived just in time to see Ulrich shove Chris into a glass window before Jeremy and Odd got a hold of him.

Chris staggered forward for a couple steps, tears streaming down his cheeks. Ulrich was shouting at him to get up and fight him, flailing wildly in Odd and Jeremy's grasp, desperate to get away from them and finish what he'd start with Chris.

Chris staggered past Yumi, stopping long enough to whisper that he was sorry for causing all this, and staggered out the door. Yumi watched in horror as he moved off, then turned on Ulrich.

"How could you?!" She shouted, causing Odd and Jeremy's grips to falter long enough to let Ulrich slip loose. "I should ask you the same question." Yumi felt heat rising to her face. "What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped.

"Today during lunch you were off with him. What were you up to?" Ulrich asked, his rage apparent in his voice. "He wanted to talk to me!" Yumi said.

"Yeah. That's how it starts." Ulrich snapped. "You're supposed to be my girlfriend, remember?"

Yumi forced herself to keep from strangling him. "Not anymore. I'd rather be his girlfriend than be the trophy of a jealous creep like you."

She turned and walked off, leaving a stunned trio of boys behind her.

Odd was taken aback by Yumi's statements, and looked at Ulrich. "You know she's right?" he asked. Ulrich lunged at him and he scrambled backwards frantically before Jim got ahold of Ulrich and hauled him off.

* * *

Yumi walked around the edge of the school's campus, calling Chris' name. It had been nearly twenty minutes since she'd watched him leave the dorm, and she was getting worried.

She heard a strangled gasp from a nearby clump of trees and wandered over. "Chris?" She gasped as she found him on knees in the clearing. She knelt down, and he looked up at her. "Y-Yumi?" He asked, before taking a gasping breath. She pulled him close and held him in her arms, gasping at the feel of moisture on her hand. She brought it up to eye level; even in the dim light she could make out what it was.

Blood.

She looked at his back. The impact with the window had opened several cuts, and she didn't want to think about how much of the glass was imbedded in his back. "We've got to get you to the infirmary!" She cried, staggering to her feet and dragging him along with her.

Chris moved slowly, and nearly fell. Yumi stopped him half-way down and forced herself to keep moving. It began to rain, masking the tears that they were both shedding.

It took a moment, but she could hear Chris singing over the sound of the rain falling.

_"I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away  
I keep your photograph; I know it serves me well  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain"_

Yumi recognized the song; she'd heard it on the radio often lately.

_"'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away_

_You've gone away, you don't feel me anymore"_

Yumi took a deep breath and started singing the second verse.

_"The worst is over now and we can breathe again  
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away  
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain"_

Their voices joined as one as they staggered near the main building, and the infirmary.

_"'Cause I'm broken when I'm open  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away"_

The school doctor looked up in surprise as Yumi escorted a bloody Chris into the room....

* * *

It took four hours for the doctor to remove the glass from his shoulder blades. Four agonizing hours Yumi waited, dreading the worst. Four hours until he staggered weakly out of the infirmary, bandaged and weary.

Yumi helped him up the stairs to his bed. She'd called her folks, let them know she was staying at the school tonight. She collapsed next to Chris, closing her eyes and letting sleep take her...


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A soft touch ruffled Yumi's hair, and she stirred slightly in her sleep. Chris smiled down at her. The nightmare of the previous night's events were still close in memory, but in his room, with just the two of the, felt safer than he'd felt in a long time.

Felt more peaceful than any moment he'd ever had in his life.

He slid off the bed, and sat at the foot of the bed with a wince. His back was on fire, but it would seem that the bandages were doing their job. He looked up at the ceiling, which had only two nights ago seemed so strange to him. Now, it looked like home.

He gently shook the fully-clothed Yumi awake and smiled. "Come on. You've got class." She smiled and stood up with a yawn. "I guess I didn't make it to my room..." she said sheepishly, and Chris shrugged.

* * *

Yumi quietly left Chris' room and snuck off to her own room. She'd barely been gone five minutes when there was a knock at the door. Chris opened it to discover Odd and Ulrich standing outside his door.

"To what do I owe the misery?" he asked them, putting enough of an accent on the word "misery" to cause them to grimace; he was still a little upset about the previous night.

"I wanted to say I was sorry. I saw Yumi with you, and I kinda freaked." Ulrich said, and Chris shook his head. "You're a jealous fool, you know?" Ulrich hung his head, and Chris sat on his bed, pulling a shirt down so his guests wouldn't get a glimpse of his bandages.

"She broke up with me because of it." Ulrich said, and Chris chuckled grimly. "That wouldn't surprise me. She doesn't seem the type to take your being jealous rather well." Ulrich looked at him with a sidelong glare. "She said she'd rather be your girlfriend than my trophy to be jealously guarded."

"Harsh."

"That's all you have to say? You've won! We don't have a reason to fight anymore! Doesn't that make you happy? Don't you want Yumi as a girlfriend?" Ulrich burst out, while Odd slouched down next to a pile of unpacked boxes.

Chris turned and leveled a gaze at Ulrich. "Look, if you're blaming me for anything I may have done, that's fine. If you're blaming me for your jealous outburst, then find someone else, because I refuse to take it."

He paused, hands coiling into fists, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "You did a real number on my backside last night with that little window trick of yours. The Doc said I was lucky as all get out, because several of the shards that got imbedded in my back came close to severing my spinal cord. I'd have bled to death if Yumi hadn't come and drag me to the infirmary, and I'm stuck in my room for the better part of the next week, and you have the balls to come in here and whine about how I won? _You aren't the only one who paid a price for this!_"

Chris looked at him. "I'll admit I had a hand in this, Ulrich, but you need to check your head if you think I'm the only one."

Odd put himself between the two boys. "Whoah. Calm down, guys."

Ulrich growled. "At least I'm trying to make amends!"

Chris frowned. "I am, but I'm wondering why I'm even trying to get through to you."

Ulrich stormed off, and Odd shrugged. Chris looked at Odd. "And you still owe me an apology for the sketchbook incident."

Odd blinked, startled somewhat. "Um....I'm sorry?"

"Apology accepted. Anything else I can help you with?"

Odd shook his head and rapidly retreated from the room. Chris shut the door and started unpacking some of the boxes.

* * *

It was nearly four hours later when Yumi knocked on his door with lunch. "Ulrich said he'd stopped by and tried to apologize to you."

"Didn't do a very good job." Chris finished hooking up the pieces of his desktop computer, set up on a small table next to the bed, instead of the desk next to the window. Yumi set lunch down, and looked at Chris sadly. "Don't get me wrong," he said, straightening up with a grimace, "I do forgive him. He just needs to stop being so hot headed about it."

He leaned back on his bed, back to the wall, eyes closed, letting the cold of the wall soothe the pain in his back. Yumi sat next to him, and took his hand in hers. She watched the features on his face move, slowly, into a smile, and felt his fingers close gently around hers.

"I told Ulrich last night that we were through. Was it the right thing to do?" Yumi looked at Chris, who sighed. "I don't know. It's your choice, though."

She hugged him gently, and Chris returned the gesture. "I...I think the others need to see the sketchbook."

"Not until I'm out from under house arrest." He looked at her. "You know the Doc's orders. I'm supposed to stay here for the next week until he takes my bandages off."

She nodded, and helped him over to the desk, where he slid gratefully into the chair, and slowly ate away at his lunch. She watched him eat, barely touching her food until Chris prompted her.

She stood up, throwing away the lunch bags in Chris' garbage can, and moved to the door, hesitating to leave.

"I'll be okay, Yumi. Get to class, you'll be late."

He watched her go, and turned to begin sorting through the last open box.

"Ah, my CDs!"

* * *

It was several more hours before Chris had any other visitors, but he didn't notice them at first. He was face down on his bed, Enya's Watermark drifting almost lazily from the computer speakers, and was half asleep when he felt Yumi take his hand gently. He moved, giving himself a better field of view. They were all there: Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi.

"What'd I do to deserve this?" He mumbled, shaking himself awake. He winced as bolts of pain sliced through his back, and he leaned heavily on the wall for support.

"We just came to check on you." Jeremy said, looking as though he'd rather run than stand and talk. "Then come in," Chris said, motioning them into his room, "and shut the door."

Jeremy sat in front of the computer, gazing in amazement at Chris' set-up. It looked as though it had cost a small fortune (And Chris had admitted as much; he'd been the one who'd built it.)

Ulrich gazed out his window. "You've got a nice view of the neighborhood from here," he commented. Chris nodded in agreement, and looked over at Odd, who was sorting through one of the stacks of CDs Chris owned.

Odd noted that most of them were home-burned, but there were several that looked near-professional. "You run a pirate CD business or something?" Odd asked, and Chris shook his head, grinning sheepishly. "No, it's just a hobby for me."

Odd nodded, and carefully replaced the stack. All in all, he saw over 100 CDs sitting on the floor near the computer. Chris obviously liked his music.

Ulrich looked at Yumi, who was slumped against Chris' side and breathing deeply with her eyes closed. "She's asleep." He said softly, and Chris nodded slowly. "Yeah. Last night...was rough for all of us."

He shut his eyes, and leaned back. Ulrich stood up and grinned at Odd and Jeremy. "I'm gonna go study. Later."

Odd left shortly there after, and then Jeremy left.

Chris and Yumi stayed that way, slouched against the wall and each other, asleep and at peace for a long moment.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

The space of a week passed Chris and Yumi by like a small whirlwind.

The two spent most their time together- Yumi would often spend lunch and a couple hours after school taking care of Chris and making sure he was okay.

Relations between Chris and Ulrich continued to be little more than lukewarm; Ulrich wouldn't admit he was both jealous and angry at Chris, who he flet had 'stolen' Yumi from him. Chris, for the most part, let Ulrich stay that way. Anytime either of them tried to make amends, things would rapidly worsen. Yumi had kept them from coming to blows once, and Odd and Jeremy had seperated them another.

Today, though, there was nobody in the room but them, and they looked each other square in the eyes, each taking measure of the other.

"So what do you want?" Chris asked after a long moment, taking a small sip of the soda Yumi'd brought him during lunch.

"An apology." Ulrich stated simply, and Chris looked at him. "For what?" he asked, gesturing to a chair. Ulrich shook his head.

"For your attitude."

"You first." Chris put the soda on a coaster next to his computer.

Ulrich took a deep breath. "Fine. I'm sorry."

"So am I." Chris said. Ulrich looked at him.

"So we're both sorry."

"Sounds that way."

There was a long silence before Ulrich spoke again. "What's your problem, anyways?"

"Yumi never told you guys?"

"No. She said that she you didn't want her telling us." Chris smiled softly. "I'm glad to hear that much. But you've got a right to know."

He gestured to the chair, and Ulrich sat this time. "I was....a single child," Chris began slowly, his eyes growing distant. "I was raised by my mom. Until a few months ago, I never even knew my dad. Wish I didn't know him, either."

Ulrich watched Chris shift and lean forward with a grimace. "He showed up one day and demanded that I go with him. I said no, plain and simple. We argued, and finally came to blows over the matter."

Ulrich forced himself not to look shocked. Chris didn't notice the strain, or simply didn't care. "We beat each other senseless. Took the police to get us to quit; I spent a last quiet night in my room. Ghen spent the night in jail."

"Ghen?" Ulrich asked. Chris laughed. "It's what I call my dad. From what mom told me, he didn't even stick around to give me a name. Dozen years later, he shows up and I'm supposed to love him. Right, dude. Doesn't work that way."

"I know that feeling, sorta," Ulrich said, trying to be sympathetic.

"How could you know?" Chris snapped, and Ulrich cringed. "How could anyone know?" He said, a little more softly. There was a long silence, and the sound of footfalls came from the stairs.

"At any rate, the SOB talked my mom into getting me shipped here." Chris looked at Ulrich. "I don't mean to be so cold about life, but this isn't easy for me. All my worldly possessions are loaded up along with me, and dumped out here."

"I'm sorry." Ulrich said. Chris shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault."

"Still," Ulrich said, "You could've told us sooner."

Chris laughed, a sharp, short noise. "Ulrich, I've told Yumi and I've told you. Nobody else at this school knows. I'd rather not have anyone else know."

Ulrich nodded. "I can't promise anything yet...You do know Parent's Day is coming up this week, right?" Chris nodded. "They probably won't even show up," he spat bitterly.

"So, what now? Where are you and Yumi?" Ulrich asked, deciding to change the subject. Chris sighed again. "I don't know. Where's your love life at?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ulrich asked, looking at the window distractedly. "You going to date Sissy now?" Chris asked, his tone suddenly lighter than it'd been.

"She's not my type." Ulrich said defensively, and Chris laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't know about that," he grinned at Ulrich like a cheshire cat. "You two have one thing in common: Your worst side is undoubtedly your best side."

Ulrich tried to look hurt. "Hey!" he said, slowly breaking into a grin along with Chris. The door eased open, and Yumi poked her head in. "You two okay?" she asked softly, and Chris nodded, gesturing for her to come inside. She nodded and strode confidently into the room, Jeremy and Odd close on her heels. Chris kicked the door shut.

"So...is everything okay between you two?" Odd asked cautiously, a nervous smile on his face. "Yeah, we're doing better." Chris said, before pointedly looking at Odd. "Now, sit down! You're making me nervous!"

Odd sat in front of the book case. "Yumi said you had something to show us," Jeremy said. Chris nodded, leaning forward and pulling his sketchbook off the shelf. He proceeded to show the others what he'd shown Yumi the week before.

Odd and Ulrich were surprised, and somewhat shocked, while Jeremy found it all fascinating. Chris briefly wondered if Jeremy showed any emotions besides scientific curiousity, but shoved the thought to the back of his mind.

"So...you knew all of us before you came here?" Ulrich asked. "Yes and no...I knew what you looked like, but not names or anything like that." Chris looked at him, passing the sketchbook. Ulrich flipped through it, amazed at Chris' skill at art.

Jeremy looked at Chrs, studying his face intently, as if it held the secret to some great mystery. Chris looked at Yumi, who had snuggled up quitely. Odd looked through the book case, somewhat fascinated by Chris' choices in reading material.

Yumi smiled up at Chris and hugged him gently. Chris returned the hug, and felt tears flow down his cheek.

'You big softy,' he chided himself. He really couldn't help it; he finally felt like he wasn't alone here.

Odd plucked out one of the books on the shelf. "You're a role-player?" Odd asked, and Chris laughed. "Used to be," Chris said, shaking his head. "Haven't played in years. Don't have the heart to get rid of the books, because I spent good money on them."

Odd nodded, setting the RPG book aside, and pulled out one of the various sci-fi novels on the upper shelf of the bookcase. Yumi picked up the discarded book- she'd looked through some of them earlier in the week, but could never understand Chris' fascination with them. She slid it back into place, as Odd flipped half-heartedly through the novel.

Ulrich tapped Chris on the shoulder with the black binding of his sketchbook and the other boy gratefully accepted it back

"All right. You folks ought to get going." Chris gestured to the door, and the kids filed out. Chris kissed Yumi on the cheek, and she blushed. "See you in class tomorrow?" She asked hopefully, and Chris nodded. He watched her pratically skip down the stairs, and smiled. He turned back to the bookshelf, and immediately noticed something amiss.

"Hang on a moment....Where's my Dave Matthews Band songbook?" His eyes went wide, and a single name echoed through the halls an instant later.

"ODD!"

The sound of footfalls echoed down the hall. Another set followed shortly after.

* * *

Chris sat in class, taking half-hearted notes for science. Mrs. Hertz called on someone else, and Chris rolled his eyes, waiting for the class to end. He felt his beeper go off, and pulled it out of his pocket. It was tied into the wireless network capability of his laptop, currently stashed in the depths of the factory near the school. Chris read over the message, and the bell rang.

He stood up, and ran out the door.

* * *

"Jeremy!" Aelita's voice drifted over Jeremy's cell, and Jeremy listened to her. "All right. We're on our way." He said. The other kids nodded, and they charged off.

* * *

"Scan Yumi! Scan Ulrich! Scan Odd!"

The dull roar of the scanners doubled in pitch, and Yumi felt her hair lifting with the energy build-up in the tube. "Virtualization!"

There was a flash, and she suddenly found herself in Lyoko. She dropped to the ground, Odd and Ulrich by her side. Aelita pointed, and half a dozen Blocks whirled in the crowd's general direction.

"Wow. XANA's upgraded." Odd allowed, shortly before a hurricane of laser bolts hit the spot where he'd been standing only nanoseconds prior.

Yumi threw her fan, swiping another block, while Ulrich slammed his sword into another. Both blocks exploded. Yumi turned and tried to find Aelita when she felt the searing pain of a laser bolt slamming into her.

She stumbled backwards and tripped, falling off the platform.

Her last sight was of her friends reaching to catch her, and missing by little more than an inch.

* * *

Yumi slammed into the ground, and sat up with a groan. "What? Where am I?" she asked the empty air.

She had a sudden sense of deja-vu, as though she'd been here before. She looked up, and the sky was overcast.

This was...her dream. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

It began to rain, and she held back a terrified sob. She looked as she heard the footsteps. He was here, the one with the eyes the color of the sea during a storm.

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to dance among the stars?" He stepped closer, sword in one hand. Yumi only looked at him in silence. "We could jump into the void, be lit by the stars as we dance to the waltz of the universe, yet still return the place where we began...."

He raised the sword and took aim. Yumi closed her eyes. The energy bolt was released, but it didn't collide with her. It collided with one of XANA's monsters that had been moving up behind her.

"Did you really think I'd hurt one of my friends?" he asked, lowering the scarf covering his lower face. Yumi gasped.

It was Chris.

* * *

"Yumiiiiiiiiiiii!" Ulrich screamed into the void, his voice echoing back at him. Odd placed his hand on Ulrich's shoulder, and Ulrich looked back. The pain in his eyes was obvious. "Come on," Odd said softly, "We'd better help Aelita."

* * *

"Chris? How....All the scanners are in use. You couldn't possibly be here...." Yumi said, and Chris shook his head, placing his hand on her cheek. "Do you feel me, Yumi? I'm here." He helped her up, and she stood unsteadily, leaning on him for support.

"There's another scanner in the factory. A prototype, I suppose. I've been using my laptop to run it." He walked silently with her, holding her steady. "I've found things here you wouldn't believe."

"Chris, what you said to me, about dancing among stars, and going back to the beginning...." She interrupted, and Chris looked at her. "That..that was the beginning. I..went through that in a dream."

He nodded. "Imagine that. At any rate, I've also taken some notes that Jeremy would probably like to see. Come on, we'd better catch up to the others."

He helped her onto a platform. "Going up."

* * *

Odd and Ulrich were surrounded, and losing badly. "Guys, watch your life points! You're loosing them too rapidly!" Jeremy's voice was frantic.

"Like we have a choice?" Odd grunted. Ulrich didn't justify him with a response.

They were down to three blocks, but had been worn down enough so that even a block would make quick work of them. Ulrich looked up, his face showing his defiance even as he prepared himself for the sickening rush of being de-virtualized-

And felt his jaw go slack as Yumi's fan collided with the block from above. He turned, watching her land gracefully and catching her fan with her off hand. Odd took aim, and took out the second block. "Laser Arrow!" he cried, firing his weapon.

The third block took aim at Odd, but didn't get enough time to shoot. "Crystalis shot!"

An energy bolt atomized the block, and Chris struck the ground. Odd stared, stupified at the sudden appearance of a fourth fighter. Ulrich looked at him. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Chris shrugged. "Not exactly the thanks I was looking for, but it works."

"_How could you possibly be here?!?_" Ulrich cried out, when Jeremy interrupted him. "Aelita's deactivated the tower. Prepare for the return trip to the past."

"I'll tell you at lunch, okay?" Chris said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

* * *

Re-living the morning had been simple enough, though Chris had still found himself bored out of his skull in science. Lunch had come quickly enough, and he plopped down next to Yumi at the lunch table.

"You wanted to know?" he looked down the table at Ulrich, who nodded sourly. "There's a fourth scanner. I've been using my laptop to run it."

Ulrich groaned loudly. "You've got to be kidding me."

"You wish." Chris looked down at the lunch, and ate what he considered to be edible. Yumi held his hand, and Chris gave her hand an affectionate squeeze. She smiled, and Ulrich decided to drop any further protests. Chris knew about everything, apparently. It wasn't that bad, and it certainly shook up the routine a bit. Besides, he didn't want to jepordize his friendship with Yumi, and she was head-over-heels for him. It was pretty obvious to anyone who looked at them.

Chris let go of Yumi's hand, and dug through his backpack. "Oh, Jeremy, here." He handed over the journal of notes he'd kept. "I took notes on some of the things I'd found out about Lyoko."

Jeremy accepted the book with a smile.

* * *

_Deep in the depths of Lyoko, Xana sat, bitterly reflecting on his most recent failure. This newcomer, this Chris as the other humans called him, was certainly becoming a large thorn in his virtual side._

_He watched over the record, noting his attachment to the girl, Yumi. That would almost certainly be a weakness that he could exploit, yes..._

_He turned, and opened a book, sitting on a podium. He picked up a quill, and began to write, to create..._

_He fashioned from his mind a girl. Blonde, blue-eyed. Shoulder length hair, like Yumi's. A little taller than Yumi, with a slender figure. Yes, that should catch the newcomer's eye._

_He laughed, dipping the quill in the ink pot, and scribbled a final mark. "As you once said, my dear Jeremy, 'Code: Earth.'"_

_His laughter filled the room, haunting the empty corridors of the tower._

* * *

Aelita slept fitfully.

In the depths of her mind, she could hear Xana's insane laughter. None of the kids knew, certainly, that Xana did have a personal manifestation. Not even the scientists who'd created him knew it.

It was something of a surprise to her, even. She hadn't expected Xana to give himself a human form when he despised them so. She made a mental note to ask Jeremy about it sometime.

* * *

In the depths of the factory, the scanner roared to life. Xana's creation was made manifest.

Ice-blue eyes opened, and she slowly walked off.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

Dusk fell, dawn rose, and a new day began. Chris rolled over, one slightly blood-shot eye cracking open at the brilliant display of colors. He rolled himself out of bed, and nudged the mouse on his computer. His eyes drifted to the clock in the corner- 6:32- as he slumped in the windowsill.

His eyes drifted out over the various houses. From his view, they all looked the same, though Yumi had confided that she had a perfect view of his window from her house.

He looked carefully, trying to see if he could pick out Yumi's house from among the numerous homes. He sighed. He never had any luck at this. He rapidly gave up, drew the shades, and got dressed.

------

Xana's creation- he'd dubbed her Molly Argent- moved slowly around the school. Her eyes took in every detail, noting the few kids out and around at this hour. Molly's ice blue eyes shifted around. She smiled. Those organic fools would have no idea what hit them.

------

Ulrich frowned, watching Chris slowly- almost painfully- walk down the stairs. He followed, but kept his distance. Odd fell in behind him with a quiet greeting of "Mornin'."

Jeremy was oddly absent, but Ulrich quickly remembered that his friend would already be at breakfast. "Chris!" Ulrich called out, and Chris paused at the landing. "Oh, hey, Ulrich. Been following me long?"

Ulrich nodded, and Chris shook his head. "Could've piped up sooner, you know," Chris said tauntingly, grinning like a madman. Ulrich shrugged, and the boys turned towards the door.

------

Molly's eyes locked onto the trio of boys who had just left the dorm. It was them- targets Ulrich, Odd, and Chris.

She attempted to look seductive. Odd jogged off to deal with something, and she found herself suddenly alone and face-to-face with her enemies.

------

"Another new student?" Ulrich questioned, his eyebrow lifting. Chris looked her over, frowned, and turned to Ulrich. "I'll see you at breakfast, Ulrich," came Chris' voice after a long hesitation. He turned to leave, and Ulrich looked at Chris silently.

"I'm, um, I'm lost..." Molly said innocently. Ulrich looked at her. "Where do you need to go?" he asked, trying to be helpful.

-------

Chris watched from a distance. This new girl, something just didn't seem right about her. It was almost impossible to get lost at Cadic. They issued a map with a new-student pack-

Chris' train of thought promptly de-railed itself and took to off-roading at that moment. The girl didn't have a backpack. Or books. Or a new student pack. That pointed to something seriously wrong....

-----

Molly smiled gently at Ulrich. Already her infiltration was working. "I'm Molly, Molly Argent," she said after a long moment.

"I'm Ulrich," Ulrich returned with a shy smile. She returned the smile, and the two walked towards the class Xana'd managed to enroll Molly in. "So, tell me about yourself, Ulrich."

-----

Chris shadowed them at a good distance, listening to everything. He stopped when Molly introduced herself. "I think I'll be talking to Jeremy in a little bit..." he murmured, then turned and hustled to class.

----

Yumi watched Chris in silence. Something had gotten him up in arms, though he'd insisted he'd talk to her about it at lunch.

She reached over and rubbed his shoulder affectionately. He looked up and smiled at her before going back to his notes. She returned the smile and concentrated as best she could on her own notes.

----

Ulrich was still walking Molly around the campus when lunch rolled around. They were talking as though they were old friends. Chris, on the other hand, was practically dragging Jeremy and Yumi to a secluded spot, with Odd hard on his heels.

"It's that new girl, the one Ulrich's hanging around," he started.

Odd immediately turned to leave. "I'm serious, guys. Something is definitely wrong about her."

Jeremy sighed. "Like what?" he asked Chris somewhat sullenly.

"Maybe a complete absence of any school supplies whatsoever. And no new-student pack." Chris looked around them, a frown on his face. Odd shrugged. "So? Someone lost theirs a couple weeks back."

"Odd, that was me. And I got a new one." Chris shook his head. "There's one other thing. Her last name."

"What about it?" Yumi asked, thinking that Chris had completely gone around the bend.

"It's Argent. _A-r-g-e-n-t_." When Chris finished spelling it out, Jeremy paled slightly.

"You think she's one of Xana's tricks?" he asked. Chris nodded. "Given what I've seen of Xana's bag of dirty tricks, I wouldn't put it past him."

Jeremy nodded. "We won't take action yet," he said after a moment, "but we will keep an eye on her."

"Right," Chris said. "Also, keep an eye on Ulrich. The two of them are getting awfully friendly."

The others nodded, and Jeremy and Odd jogged off to the lunch room. Chris stood, apparently forcing himself to keep calm about the matter. Yumi slipped an arm around him. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

She led him to the cafeteria. She spoke after a few minutes. "What does Argent mean, anyways?"

"It's a synonym for metal, or more often, silver."

Yumi nodded, and the two kept walking. "You know, this isn't the first time Xana's tried something like this. He made a duplicate of me once. Fooled the guys for the better part of a day."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "I don't see how that could happen."

"Oh? Yumi said, stopping and stepping in front of him. Chris nodded. "Yeah. I'd be able to tell. There's a particular gleam in your eyes that I see when I look at them. I don't think Xana'd be able to replicate that."

Yumi kissed Chris on the cheek softly. "You're sweet." She turned and kept walking.

Chris stood there, blushing, one hand on his cheek. "Thanks..." he said softly, to nobody in particular.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_XANA sat in his tower, gazing with rapidly fading interest at the open book before him. It showed him exactly what Molly saw. He frowned at the image. She was so human, and he honestly despised that._

_He despised being given a human form by his creators. He was a machine, he was more than a human being. He was perfection._

_He knew this plan was flawless. The flesh-bags would never stop him this time._

---------

Ulrich sat in class, looking over at Molly every so often. She was nice enough, he thought. She smiled over at him, and Ulrich caught himself smiling back. She reminded him a lot of Yumi at times, but he shook it off as coincidence.

"Now class," Mrs. Hertz spoke up suddenly, "Remember that today is Parent's Day. You will meet with your parents after class."

Molly looked down sadly, while Ulrich heard the simultaneous thump and groan of Chris' distaste. "Molly?" he asked softly. "Oh, nothing, it's just... well, I'm an orphan." She said to him. Ulrich leaned over and squeezed her hand gently, and she smiled a sad little smile. Neither noticed Chris' distant glare.

--------

Molly smiled at Jeremy and Odd as they headed to meet their parents. Ulrich ran up, waving at his friends. "Hey, guys. What's going on?"

Odd smirked. "We're waiting on Jeremy's parents. They're running a little late." Ulrich nodded, and Jeremy sighed. "That's my dad. Always taking his time with things."

"Sometimes that's a good way to go about things." Odd smiled and was about to launch into giving Jeremy some advice when the four kids caught their first sample of the situation down the hall.

"I'm not going!"

All four turned and tried to hold their laughter as Yumi practically drug Chris down the hall by one arm. Chris was offering all the resistance of simply standing there, which was giving Yumi problems enough.

"Come on," she grunted, dragging Chris a few more inches. "You've got to make amends someday!"

"I'll do it next year! Honest!" Chris tried to pull away, but Yumi had gotten a very firm grip. She looked at the others. "A little help?"

Odd and Ulrich promptly grabbed a hold of Chris' other arm, and began dragging him towards the door.

"Oh, come on! Guys, please!"

Molly and Jeremy laughed, watching Chris make every attempt to scramble away from the doors.

---------

Yumi held tightly onto Chris. "Why am I doing this?" He asked, somewhat bitterly. Yumi looked up at him. "I want you to meet my parents. And I want you to make amends with yours."

"I'll make amends with my mom. I don't know about my dad."

Yumi sighed. She cared for Chris- a lot- but he could be so frustrating sometimes. She shook her head. "I don't get you, sometimes. I really don't."

Chris laughed, and hugged Yumi. "I don't get myself, if that helps any." Yumi giggled at Chris' comment, as they approached her parents.

--------

Odd and his father were deep in conversation as Ulrich approached his parents. Molly walked alongside him, feeling happy that Ulrich had asked her to hang around with him and his parents, since she didn't have any.

She smiled. "Hello, sir," she said to Ulrich's father, who smiled.

"Dad, this is Molly. Can she come with us, since she's an orphan?" Ulrich asked, sincerely.

His dad was silent for a moment. "I guess it'd be okay." Molly restrained herself from jumping with joy. "Thank you, sir!"

------

_Xana swore he was going to be sick. This wasn't right. That confounded girl was supposed to woo Chris, not Ulrich! How could this have happened?_

-----

Chris sighed as Yumi helped him to a seat on the fountain's edge.

"I'm sorry my parents did the twenty questions routine." Yumi looked at him sadly, and Chris smirked. "Should've expected that...It's a parent thing, I would think."

Yumi laughed. "So, where're you parents?" Chris looked around. "Here they come."

Chris' dad smiled coldly. Chris scowled. "Hi."

"Well, I hope you're enjoying the discipline you earned." His dad's smile didn't once change. "Are you doing well, honey?" his mom asked.

"Just peachy, mom. Just effing peachy." Chris looked at them sullenly.

"Treat her with respect, young man." His dad's voice raised just enough that it began attracting attention. "You first." Chris' voice was soft, but edged in iron, remaining forceful and even.

"You know, we were considering letting you come home, but now I think we'll just leave me here." His dad had attracted Jim's attention, and the large gym teacher was rapidly approaching. Chris stood up.

"You do that, dad. Any place with you isn't a home. This is my home now. Goodbye." He walked off, leaving his parents behind. He turned back. "You coming, Yumi?"

Yumi nodded and jogged to catch up with him. "You get back here, young man!" his dad called after him. Chris didn't turn back. Jim's hand came down on his dad's shoulder.

"Sir, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

-------

Chris sat, head firmly planted against the window. He took a shaky breath, eyes never leaving the court yard below. He allowed a soft sob to emit, as Yumi wrapped her arms around him gently. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay..." Chris shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. Yumi shook her head. "Your dad is a jerk. I can't believe he treated you like that."

"He doesn't care. Mom does, but she won't stand up to dad." He shook his head. "I'm better off here."

Yumi hugged Chris again. "Well, the day's going to be over before too long." She paused, before adding, "Jim literally drug your dad off the campus kicking and screaming."

"He never did know when to give up."

---------

Molly smiled, looking over at Ulrich. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Ulrich waved back, running for the dorms. Molly smiled and walked off. "Room 36...36..."

She walked up the stairs, and knocked on the door to her dorm room.

Sissy looked at her through the open crack in the door. "Oh. You're my new roommate." Molly nodded in confirmation, and Sissy opened the door completely. "Come on in. You've got that side of the room."

Molly nodded and entered the room, dropping her duffel in the room at long last. She felt relief at having finally dropped it.

------

_Xana was getting quite sick and tired of the wrinkles in his plan. The latest one, however, wasn't entirely unpleasant._

_Molly was Sissy's roommate. Xana figured he'd use that fact to have some fun. He enjoyed targeting Sissy, if only because she spooked so easily._

------

Yumi sat in the cafeteria, looking around. Odd and his dad had managed to convince the principle to allow them to have a karaoke night to finish off Parent's Day. Yumi laughed as Ulrich and his dad stumbled through AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds".

Chris sat next to her. "There's only one person left, Chris. That's you." Yumi smirked. "Want me to go up there with you?"

Chris thought about it, then reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a CD. "I think I can do this on my own, Yumi. Thanks for offering."

He stood up, somewhat shakily. The incident with his dad had taken it out of him. He walked unsteadily to the makeshift stage and sat on the stool. He opened the CD player, pulled out the karaoke CD and put his in.

His finger set the track forward, and he sat there, with his eyes closed. Yumi looked at him worriedly, as the first few notes of the music began to play. Chris looked up and opened his eyes as the music kicked in fully, the rock beats echoing slightly.

He took a deep breath, raising his shoulders before he began to sing.

_"Why do you tell me all these lies?  
I just want to live my life  
I don't want to leave my dreams behind."_

Yumi watched Chris with a smile on her face. She enjoyed listening to Chris sing. Her parents nodded their heads in time with the music.

_"Tell me  
Why am I only getting older?  
My patience getting shorter  
I'm running out of time  
And I hope that I get what I wanted."_

Ulrich grinned. Chris was hitting it word for word. Odd be-bopped along with the song, and he looked over to find Jeremy drumming on the table.

_"This time's for real  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?  
  
This time's for real  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?"_

The chorus echoed off the walls, and several kids had stood up to dance. Odd, Sissy, and Molly were among them. Chris grinned as he continued to sing.

_"Why do you make me feel denied?  
Always pushing me aside  
You do not decide what's wrong or right  
Tell me  
Why am I feeling so much pressure?  
Am I searching for the answer?  
I'm running out of time  
And I hope that I get what I wanted"_

Yumi stood up, bounding into Chris's arms. Chris, to his credit, didn't once break from the song. He held Yumi in his arms and look out over the crowd.

_"This time's for real  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?  
  
This time's for real  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?"_

Yumi let Chris go as the song broke into the guitar solo. He stood, bouncing from one foot to another like a boxer, making quick, short jabs, pulling back and raising Yumi's arm as if in victory as the song kicked into it's closing refrains.

_"This time's for real  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?  
  
This time's for real  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?  
  
Is there anything I wanted?  
Is there anything I needed?  
Anything at all?"_

Chris layed the mike down on the chair and walked down with Yumi into a cheering crowd.

-------

_Xana sighed. Music. How human._

------

Chris walked with Yumi to his room. "That was incredible," she said, "Not even my parents could do that, and they've been doing Karaoke for years!"

Chris shrugged. "I enjoy that sort of thing on occasion. I like music." Yumi smiled, hugging him tightly. "You should sing more often."

Chris shrugged, and looked up at the moonlight. "Maybe."

------

Molly lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. It had been a good first day. She felt alive, felt human. She knew she shouldn't, for the sake of Lord Xana, but still...

She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. In her mind's eye, she pictured Ulrich.

------

Chris slept like a rock. For him, it had been a long day. The song he'd sung played softly from his computer's speakers.

------

Yumi sashayed around her bedroom, singing what she could remember of Chris' song, smiling as she climbed into bed.

------

The sun set, the moon rose. The kids all drifted off to sleep, dreaming their dreams.

------

_Xana sat, puzzled. This wasn't right. His creation shouldn't be acting like this. She was acting almost human. He found himself cursing, trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong._

_He puzzled over the arcane symbols in the book before him. He couldn't find a mistake. So why...?_

_The answer came to him: She was human. He couldn't unmake her. She wasn't a copy of a template, as Clone-Yumi had been. She was an original work. She was, in all respects, his daughter._

_Xana's scream of rage echoed throughout Lyoko._


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chris' eyes opened warily. Night's long dark hands had streatched through his room, deepening shadows, dimming even the school's outer lights.

_'What few it has,'_ Chris reminded himself grumpily, and sat up. He hated nights like this, when he couldn't get any sleep. He usually wound up sleeping through his first couple of classes, only to either get detention when the instructor noticed or he'd get jumped on by Yumi for not trying to get more.

He rolled over, and tried to get back to sleep. He managed, but it wasn't a comfortable sleep.

Molly stared at the ceiling. Why did it matter if Ulrich fell for her and not Chris? Lord Xana's instructions didn't make any sense to her.

She sighed and rolled over, trying to get to sleep. It worked, but only to a point, and she soon found herself awake again.

"Great." She muttered angrily, and stared out the window. When the sun's first light began to creep over the school, she'd fallen into a blissful sort of sleep.

"You know, you should probably go to the infirmary if you're not sleeping well-" Jeremy cut off as Chris turned a dull glare on him.

"I've been in there enough." Chris muttered unhappily, taking a bite out of a piece of toast. With that he glanced back down at his tray, and immediately considered asking the kitchen staff for a cup of coffee.

"Y'know, we could shoot him for a wildlife film when we get into biology," Odd quipped quietly to Ulrich, who stifled a laugh. Chris contrived to look hurt and failed as a wan smile spread on his face.

"Do I really look that bad?" He finally asked, and Odd only nodded in return. Chris sighed and returned to his cereal as Molly sat down. "And she doesn't look much better," Odd remarked, earning a scathing glare from both Ulrich and Chris.

Chris went back to eating his cereal as Ulrich talked to Molly about the previous day's science assignment. _'If she is a spy for Xana, she's gotten as little sleep as I've gotten.'_ The thought brought a smile to his face, and he looked over at Jeremy. "How's your number one doing?" He asked suddenly, and Jeremy looked up, blushing furiously.

"She's, uh, she's okay." Chris nodded, and turned back to his breakfast.

* * *

"Kind of a sudden thing to ask, wasn't it?" Ulrich asked Chris later during PE. Chris shrugged.

"Just trying to be social. And it was the only thing I could think of." Chris lowered his arms and rolled his shoulders.

"So, bad dreams?" Ulrich asked after a moment, and Chris shook his head.

"Nope. Just can't get comfortable." Chris dribbled the soccer ball for a moment before passing it to Ulrich. "Kinda like sleeping on a pile of rocks."

Ulrich chuckled. "You get used to it."

"I'd better." Chris skidded to a stop, blocking a shot from Ulrich as Jim blew his whistle. "Almost over, almost-" Chris cut himself off as his beeper started going nuts.

"Oh, _great_. Xana's timing just gets better and better." Ulrich grumbled, and looked at Chris.

"Anything important next class?" Chris inquired after a second, and Ulrich shook his head. "Nope. You?"

"Math test. You get this one." Chris headed for the building, leaving a surprised Ulrich behind him.

* * *

"Scan Odd! Scan Ulrich!" Jeremy's fingers flew over the control panel. It was sometimes more difficult than others to figure out what Xana was planning, certainly, but nobody'd even seen this coming.

Of course, Xana usually went for large and grandiose with his schemes, not small and subtle. Taking over a manufacturing plant tended to make the news, but nobody'd actually noticed until a random cargo inspection yielded several active, grumpy Block-Bots. Nobody had been killed, thankfully, but almost a dozen such crates had been distrubted.

"Don't you just love Xana's sense of timing?" Odd asked, and Ulrich stifled a groan. "Look, Odd, just because you get out of English doesn't make it any better."

"Okay, yeah, the killer robot thing is a little much, but anything to get away from a spelling YEOW!" Odd leaped aside as a hornet nearly took his head off. "Man, normally they start shooting, but these guys..."

Ulrich split into three images with a triple attack, dropping another pair of the annoying flyers. "Just keep 'em off Aelita!"

* * *

Aelita ran. She hated this part of the job, the running. There was no telling when one of the kids would fall trying to defend her. Even though they simply went back to Earth, it still scared her. To her, de-virtualization would mean death, and she tended to remember that fact.

She also remembered that Jeremy was working to rectify that situation, but for the time being, she ran into the tower.

"Deactivating tower..." She muttered softly, as the tower shut off.

"_All right. Return to the past, now!"_ Jeremy's voice echoed, and Aelita sighed. One more time behind her. She briefly wondered how long it would be before it was the last time.

Chris rubbed his temples, as Yumi frowned at him. "Problem?" She asked him cautiously.

"The whole lack of sleep thing doesn't get any better with those time jumps. Ugh. If nothing else, it makes them worse." Chris looked up at her apologetically. Yumi sighed and took his hands in hers.

"Go to the infirmary and get this looked into." Chris shook his head at the suggestion. "Yumi, I'm not going back and having the Doc take more pokes at me-"

"Chris, please." Yumi leaned in close and looked him in the eyes. "I care about you. A lot. You're very special to me, to Ulrich-" Chris snorted at that, but said nothing- "To Odd, to Jeremy and to Aelita. They'd be upset if anything happened to you, and I-" Yumi chocked on the words as tears crept into her eyes. "I just don't know what I'd do without you."

Chris felt his own eyes begin to water. "Yumi, I-" His words cut off as Yumi leaned in and kissed him lightly, for just an instant.

Yumi looked at Chris' face, which was rapidly darkening into a deep red. Nearby conversations had come to an abrupt halt, but neither of them noticed. Yumi held him tightly, and Chris struggled mentally to figure out exactly what he was feeling. He sighed with a bit of defeat. "All right, Yumi, if it means that much to you. Lead the way."

* * *

"Can I come in?" Ulrich asked Chris later that night, and Chris looked at him.

"If you must."

Ulrich winced. "I do something wrong? I thought we were friends now."

"Long day," Chris muttered from in front of his computer. "And I'm kinda distracted."

Ulrich blinked, and looked over Chris' shoulder. "You and Odd, sometimes, I swear. Can't understand what you see in those things."

The 'thing' in question was the game flashing past on the computer screen. Silver was blowing up enemy ships with a small ship of his own. "Your call, Ulrich, but my games aren't what you came to talk about."

"Yumi kissed you today."

Chris winced, the kind of wince that signified a certain amount of 'Oh, great, how'd you find out'. He killed his game and turned to face Ulrich. "You heard about that."

"Yeah, rumor mill's been going since this afternoon." Ulrich sat on Chris' bed with a frown. "What happened?"

"She managed to get me to visit the infirmary about my sleep problems." Chris looked out the window, his face starting to tint red all over again.

"Emberass you a little?"

"Apparently, you can't actually die from embarassment. And I'm not sure I want to." Chris held up his hand helplessly. "I like Yumi. Like her a lot. I...words aren't enough to describe it."

Ulrich chuckled. "Well, just know this: If you hurt her, the rest of us will get you."

"Only after I'm finished taking it out on me." Chris turned back to the computer and restarted his game.

"Sol-Deace? What's the story with this one?" Ulrich asked from behind him.

"Think 'Xana in Space' and you've got a pretty good idea."

* * *

Molly sat outside Chris' room and waited for Ulrich. She heard the boys laugh as Ulrich emerged. "Hey, thanks for waiting." Ulrich smiled down at her.

Molly had heard a song recently, and recalled some of the words as _"There's something in his smile"_. True enough for Ulrich. There was something in his smile that made Molly feel safe, cared for, wanted, things that Xana certainly never gave her-

-she shook her head as she fell into step with Ulrich. That wasn't right, she shouldn't be thinking about Lord Xana that way, shouldn't-

"You okay?" Ulrich asked, and she nodded. "Yeah," she admitted (albeit falsely), "Just all this business about Chris and Yumi."

"Yeah, I know." Ulrich smiled, and Molly knew she should be trying to focus on her mission, on finding ways of bringing Xana's enemies down-

Her hand found Ulrich's, who gave her a shy smile and an affection squeeze of the hand.

-But all that could wait.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Relief passed through the circuits of Twonky as she stumbled up onto the conveyor belt. She could relax for the moment as the RoboRally continued.

Her control computer was getting better, and she gave the mechanical equivalent of a sigh as she moved calmly along the conveyor belt towards the third flag. She'd make it well ahead of the other robots and then-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Zoom Bot slamming into her, knocking her off the conveyor belt and into the depths of the pit behind her. Twonky let out a piteous squeal as she fell.

* * *

Odd groaned as Jeremy shoved Twonky into the pit on one end of the conveyor belt with a chuckle. Chris smirked, the expression partially hidden behind the cards in his hands. Yumi looked on, mouth open as her jaw went slack. Molly mirrored the expression, and Ulrich had his hand over his mouth, stifling his laughter. 

Odd looked up with a frown and tossed a chit into the pile next to the board. "Great. Two lives left."

"And you just got dumped to last place, too. That's always a pain." Chris pointed at the second flag on the game board, and looked over at Odd.

Odd set the miniature figure on the second flag, and looked up at Ulrich expectantly. The RoboRally moved on, as it had the past couple afternoons. Chris had discovered the game near the bottom of one of his boxes, and he proceeded to teach everyone else to play it. It had pretty much served to kill a few hours between homework and dinner, and it was terribly fun to play.

Yumi stood. "I'm gonna have to bow out, guys. Mom and Dad want me home on time tonight."

"'Night, love." Chris murmured as he moved the TrundleBot mini around the board. Yumi hugged him and left as the other muttered their goodbyes.

Molly glanced up, and looked at the clock. "Yeah, I'd better get going, too...I've got a math test to study for."

"'Night, Molly." Ulrich said, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze. Chris exchanged glances with Odd and Jeremy. A quick game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' later, he stood as well.

"I'm gonna go get some air, guys. You can keep playing, I'll be back for the next race." Chris left the room silently, keeping his distance from either of the girls.

* * *

"_Well, child? Are you going to actually try to accomplish what you were sent there to do?"_

Molly grunted softly in response to Xana's prodding. "Doing what I can. Be patient."

"_I have been patient. Either you do something, or I take control."_

"And mess everything up. Just let me get within arm's reach of Yumi."

* * *

Yumi looked behind her. Something was definitely not right, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She turned to head back to keep heading home, and she picked up her pace. 

At that point, someone grabbed her from behind. Yumi bit the hand placed over her mouth and twirled out of the other person's grip. She came out of her spin to find herself face-to-face with-

"Molly?"

Molly inclined her head slightly. "Sorry, Yumi. My master has a job he needs doing. And your _friend_ Chris is the intended key to it."

"Is that right?"

Molly took her eyes off Yumi for a split second, coming around to face Chris. Yumi twirled again, bringing her leg up in a kick. Molly staggered slightly, grabbed Yumi's leg, and pulled the raven-haired girl off balance.

"Yumi!" Chris' shout brought an evil grin to Molly Argent's face.

"Don't try it, Chris, if you don't want her to get hurt."

"You miserable-!" Chris stood where he was, and Molly threw Yumi over her shoulder effortlessly.

"I'd tell you not to follow us, but you've probably got a pretty good idea of where I'm taking her." Molly turned and ran. Chris glowered at her retreating form, and then took off after her.

* * *

Molly tossed Yumi into the scanner capsule and sealed it before returning to the supercomputer chamber. 

"_Interesting technique. More subtle than I would've tried."_

Molly snickered. "Humans call it 'blackmail'. I call it useful. At any rate, we've not much time. Chris will be here momentarily."

"_And when he gets here?"_

"Aelita's life for Yumi's. It's a trade he'll make."

"_Are you certain?"_

"His bag of tricks is small, my master. I- _we_- know them all." Molly ran the scanner program and got her own set up.

She clambered down the ladder, and entered another capsule with an evil smile.

"You're too late, Chris. Much, much too late."

Chris slammed into the capsule door, and promptly slammed his fist into it with a curse.

He stood there for one moment, two, three. His hand finally slipped into his pocket and came up with his cell phone.

"Jeremy? It's me. We have...we have a pretty big situation on our hands."

* * *

"Can't be." 

Chris sighed. "Look, Ulrich, I'm telling the truth. Feel free to take a swing at me if you don't believe me, but it won't change the facts."

"Where's the proof?" Ulrich demanded, and Jeremy pointed to the screen.

"It's right here, Ulrich. Two transfers. To a Xana-activated tower."

Ulrich slouched against the wall as Chris' phone went off.

"Yes?"

"_Guess who."_

"Molly. What have you done with Yumi?"

"_Nothing. Yet. If you want it to stay that way, you'll do what Lord Xana and I want."_

Chris eyed Odd and Jeremy, moving his phone away from his ear, then jerking his head at it. Odd's eyes widened, and Ulrich spun and left the room.

"Ulrich's pretty upset with you, Molly Argent."

"_I...Don't. Don't you dare change the subject."_

"Name your price, and I'll let you know if we can negotiate." Chris glanced at Jeremy again, and mouthed the word 'Scanner'. Jeremy nodded and started tapping away at the keys.

"_Aelita's life for your precious Yumi."_

Chris shrugged non-commitedly to the other two boys in the supercomputer chamber. "Fine. But Ulrich's life is my insurance policy. Anything happens to Yumi, and Ulrich pays the price."

"_No deal."_

Chris smiled grimly at his friend's expressions of shock. "Only deal you get, Molly. Take it or leave it, but the clock is ticking, and I don't-"

"_Deal. Deal! Just-just don't hurt Ulrich. Please."_

"Well. That all depends on you, don't it?" Chris killed the connection and looked at Jeremy and Odd. "Jeremy, get Aelita. We're shutting down the tower. I'm taking Ulrich with me."

"I don't think so, not after-" Odd was cut off by a low laugh from Chris.

"Odd, Molly is one of Xana's creations, right? As such, isn't she a digital being herself?"

Odd stopped and looked at him, then Jeremy let out a startled laugh. "She doesn't have any understanding of the difference between de-virtualization and death."

Chris tapped his finger on his nose. "Got it in one. And kick on the prototype unit, too. Got a feeling we may need Odd later on."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Chris sighed as he and Ulrich entered the scanner chamber. "Honestly, Ulrich? I dunno. I just don't."

Ulrich grabbed his sleeve and spun him around. "Then why?"

Chris was silent for a long moment, eyes cast downward. Slowly his hand came up and removed Ulrich's from his shirt sleeve.

"Because I can't loose her."

Ulrich stared at him. "If you rely on nothing but that, Molly's already beaten you."

Chris looked at him. "Funny. I don't know what you've been taught, but I know what I was."

Ulrich looked at him. "And that is?"

"That you fight for the things you believe in the most. And I believe that Yumi is special to me, and she's worth fighting for."

Ulrich looked at him for a long moment, then smiled. "What the heck. My grandpa once told me: 'If you can't do something smart, do something right."

* * *

"_Virtualization!"_

Lyoko blurred into view and Chris dropped easily to the ground, Ulrich nearby. Aelita looked at them.

"Keep behind us, Aelita." Ulrich told her softly. She nodded, and Chris strode off through the desert sector.

Ulrich tensed slightly, but followed, Aelita just behind him. It didn't take long to find Molly and Yumi just under the jutted edge of a plateau. Ulrich's eyes looked over Molly.

Her short hair was back in a ponytail. She was in what looked like a black bodysuit, her torso covered in black plate mail. Her right fist was covered in a spiked gauntlet, her left held what looked like a whip broken by pieces of a sword. A whip which was wrapped around Yumi's throat.

"Gentlemen." Molly greeted with a wry smile, and Chris drew his sword.

"Let Yumi go."

"Ah, ah, ah! Throw down the sword, or your precious goes flying into the void." Molly jerked on the whip, and Chris glowered an instant before stepping back and raising his sword to Ulrich's throat.

"Please, please, don't twitch." Ulrich whispered to Chris out of the side of his mouth. "Hush, tough guy. I know what I'm doing," Chris whispered back.

"Do you really?"

"All right," Chris whispered again, "I'm just improvising."

Ulrich suppressed a groan.

"Well?" Chris asked.

"I reiterate, to borrow your quaint little term: Throw. Down. The. Sword." Molly jerked the whip again, and Yumi cried out, looking at Chris.

"Yumi..." Chris looked back at her for a long moment, holding her gaze for a moment before flicking his eyes upward to the ledge.

Yumi blinked, and braced herself when she caught on to what Chris was about to do.

"Fine." Chris took the sword away from Ulrich's throat. Molly slackened the whip slightly and smiled-

-and looked shocked as Chris threw his sword in an overhand arc. There was a loud clang as it impacted with the ledge over the two girls.

"Missing was a mistake." Molly said, pulling the whip around to hurl Yumi off the ledge. The handle ripped from her grip as stones and Chris' sword landed on the line.

"Didn't miss. Ulrich! Go!" Chris charged for Yumi, and Ulrich threw himself towards Molly, his own katana at the ready. Molly raised her right arm, blocking the blow, and threw Ulrich backwards. Chris skidded to a stop on knees next to Yumi, raising his hands to remove the whip from her throat.

"Too...too close, that one. What were...you thinking?" Yumi asked Chris, taking deep breaths of virtual air.

"That I couldn't loose you. You're pretty much all I've got." Yumi laid a hand on his shoulder, and Chris smiled.

"Hate to ruin the moment, but HELP!"

"Always something," Chris muttered as he picked up his sword and leaped over the debris to help Ulrich.

"I'll help Aelita!" Yumi said, standing and charging over to the pink-haired girl.

* * *

Ulrich was hard pressed. Molly was good, almost too good. He couldn't keep blocking her, and that gauntlet packed a wallop.

Molly smiled viciously. "Your friend may have saved his girlfriend, but you and the elf are forfeit."

"She's not an elf."

"Huh?!" Molly whirled around in time for Chris to bring the handle of his sword down on her forehead. Molly toppled off-balance to the ground and rolled out from between her two opponents.

"That's twice I've been able to distract you, Argent. That's not very good." Chris brought his sword down as Molly rolled backwards into a somersault.

"This is over." Molly growled between grit teeth, and Chris favored her with a grin.

"Being called to heaven, are you?" Chris stepped forward, sword on his shoulder.

"Hardly." Her hand snaked down and grasped the handle of her whip, with a flick of her wrist it had retracted into a sword. Ulrich whistled in admiration, while Chris groaned. "Great. This is gonna be pleasant."

Molly arched an eyebrow, and Ulrich shrugged as if to say _"What do you expect? It's Chris." _She sighed and started towards Chris.

"Ulrich, go with Yumi and Aelita to the tower. This is between me and Little Miss Whip-Sword here."

Ulrich opened his mouth to protest, and Chris turned a glare on him that broached no argument. "Fine. See you at the tower."

"I'm stronger than you, better than you. Who do you think will win?" Molly swung the blade a few times, and Chris lowered his own weapon into a ready stance.

"Those with reasons to live have the true power to win." Molly blinked at Chris' statement, and lowered into a guard stance as Chris rushed her, bring his sword around in an upward slash.

She leaped backwards a couple of steps, and stabbed the blade forward. It extended into whip mode, and Chris turned out of the way, sacrificing none of his momentum. He kept pounding forwards, blows raining on Molly's absolute defense in a symphony of steel on steel.

Molly shoved Chris backwards, and he tripped over a rock. Molly stabbed her blade downwards, but only caught Chris' scarf, which tore away from him as he rolled away to his feet. She growled again, and flicked her sword back into a whip, and swung it at Chris.

Chris was ready, and raised his sword into a block. With a flick of her wrist, Molly wrapped the whip around his blade-

And cried out in surprise as Chris hurled both weapons into the void. "Got you," Chris muttered, shifting his stance slightly. His arms came up, one bending his hand back under his chin, the other extended.

Molly dropped into another stance, her hands in claw-like shape, weight shifting back and forth. "I will get you, and the girls, and anyone else who gets in my way," She snapped at Chris.

"Including Ulrich?"

"I..." Molly trailed off, then lowered her head and shook it to clear it. She had to be strong, had to fight- had to win- for the sake of Xana. She looked up in time to see the sole of Chris' _tabi_ boot come flying at her.

Molly rolled to her feet, only to be smacked by Chris' left fist, then his right, and finally catching the heel of his foot on her forehead. She lashed out with the spiked gauntlet blindly, wildly, but caught only air.

She forced herself to her feet, and glared defiantly at Chris. "I won't loose. Not ever. _Not to you!_" The last three words emerged as a roar and she lunged at Chris. Chris forced most of the blows aside, though several of Molly's claw hand strikes made it through.

Chris grunted as Molly forced him back, and she grinned viciously. "So there is something to cut there."

Chris stood there for a long moment, then reached out and grabbed Molly, yanking her towards him. His knee slammed into her gut, then her chin, and then she lost count of the blows that rained down on her.

Finally she felt herself slammed against the stone plateau. It felt warm beneath her back, and through blurred vision could make out Ulrich and Yumi.

"Give me a reason." Chris' voice was a low growl. "Give me one reason not to finish this."

"Please...please...don't...not in front of..." Her own voice was weak.

"Chris-" Ulrich started, but Chris cocked his fist back. Yumi reached out and grabbed his fist.

"Xana...I can give you..." Molly pleaded softly.

"_Quiet, you traitor!"_

"Won't...won't die for you..." she murmured softly.

"Who's she talking to?" Yumi asked. "Who do you think?" Chris growled back.

"Chris, you heard her, right?" Ulrich asked, and Chris only glowered at him. "She'll die for what she did to Yumi, to me."

"Chris, don't." Yumi's voice was soft, but Chris turned his head. Molly only moaned softly.

"Yumi..."

"The Chris I know wouldn't do this. The Chris I know isn't vengeful. He's kind, and caring, and has a wonderful heart full of limitless compassion. If you do this, then you're really not the Chris I know."

Molly felt herself lifted, and lowered into Ulrich's arms. She looked up at his hurt expression and felt herself beginning to cry. "Ulrich, I'm so..." Ulrich made a shushing noise, and lifted her in his arms.

Chris started walking. "Let's go home...I don't want to fight anymore today." Yumi looked at him, and rushed to catch up, taking his hand in hers.

"You did the right thing, Chris. Nobody could've asked more."

Chris pulled her close and put an arm around her. "I know...but I looked back into that black beast inside of me, and what I could've done..."

"I promise you, Christopher, that I'll always be there to pull you away from that. Always."

"Yumi, I...don't know what I'd do without you. You mean so much to me, I just..."

Yumi laid her head against his shoulder. "It's all right." Chris didn't agree with her at all, but he didn't say anything.

* * *

The sun's light faded to a deep golden as it vanished behind the far-off mountains and school's outer wall. Chris paid it little mind, and looked at the ceiling.

He couldn't believe he'd lost his temper like that. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, not even Molly. He'd been so angry and hurt and upset, and it had all come out in that brief interval.

His ruminations were interrupted by a knock on his door. He got up from his position on the floor and wandered over. Flicking the lock off, he peeked through the crack.

"Ulrich?"

Ulrich smiled gently. "Mind if I come in?"

Chris opened the door, and Ulrich stepped inside the room.

"Yumi said you'd shut yourself up in here all day." Ulrich sat in the computer chair, and Chris let himself slump back to the corner he'd been sitting in.

"Needed to think." Chris looked at Ulrich with an expressionless face. Ulrich shrugged. Chris managed a sigh. "Is she okay?"

"Molly? Or Yumi?"

"Molly."

Ulrich was silent for a moment. "She's scared of you. And she isn't the only one. What happened?"

"I lost it, Ulrich. I let myself give into that black rage, and...I just lost it. If Molly hadn't begged me not to finish her in front of you...If Yumi hadn't intervened..." Chris drew a knee up and set his forehead on it. "I haven't been that angry since I got into that fight with my dad."

"Well, it scared Molly, Aelita and Jeremy pretty well." Ulrich shook his head. "And you locking yourself up in here all day hasn't done much for Yumi, either."

"Oh?" Chris looked up, some of his normal, calm self beginning to seep back into his expression.

"Yeah. Last time she got this close to a total emotional breakdown was when I'd put you through the window downstairs." Ulrich stood up. "Come on. She's forgiven you. Molly and everyone else will follow in time."

"I wonder about that." Chris let Ulrich help him up, and the two exited the building.

"You're taking Yumi to the dance Friday night, right?" Ulrich asked suddenly, and Chris nodded.

"Far as I'm aware. Hopefully, if Molly was telling the truth about being able to lead us to Xana, we might be able to get Aelita materialized in time for Jeremy to take her." Chris looked thoughtful.

"You think she'll double cross us?" Ulrich asked, and Chris nodded, not asking which 'she' Ulrich was referring to.

"Molly wouldn't do so willingly, at this point. And I'm perfectly capable of using the flat of the blade." Chris shrugged as he walked out into the cool evening air.

"Hey!" Ulrich called out. "Look who decided to join us!"

Chris staggered as Yumi leaped into his arms. He held her close, and sighed as he felt the moisture of her tears begin to soak into his shirt. "Did I worry you, Yumi?"

She looked up, the last golden rays of the sun sparkling as they caught her tears. "I was...I thought...you wouldn't come back..."

"No. Never. I promised myself that. I wouldn't do that to you, Yumi. You and the others...you guys are really all the family I've got." Chris held her tightly, and Yumi smiled happily through her tears.

Odd smiled, and wandered towards the cafeteria. "Well, since you didn't need my help then, and don't need it now, I'm gonna go eat, okay?"

"Sounds good." Chris wrapped an arm around Yumi's shoulders. "And we've got things we all need to talk about, too."


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"All right, Miss Argent," Chris said, striding around the table to the empty seat next to Yumi, "Spill it."

Molly looked unsure, took a deep breath, and looked at Ulrich, who simply arched his eyebrows in expectation.

"There's a sort of fifth sector. A central tower from which Xana operates. There's a path to it at the four points closest to Lyoko's center, locked by certain access codes." Molly looked around at the others.

Ulrich was leaning on one arm, looking intently at her. She held his gaze for a moment before looking away, feeling tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She blinked them away, and turned to Odd, who munched down a roll. Jeremy was sitting with his arms crossed, head lowered, his expression one of intense consideration. Yumi had one knee up on her stool, resting her chin on it. Molly finally looked at Chris, who made a gesture she took to mean as "Go on".

"I have the access codes. We can attack the tower, attack Xana."

"But then who would protect Aelita?" Jeremy asked, and Molly shrugged.

"We'd take her with us."

All eyes turned to Chris. He shrugged after a moment. "Look, I know I'm the new guy in all of this, but we have a chance to end this entire matter in one blow. I say we take the chance and leap headlong into the vortex of destiny on this."

"Do you always use brute force like that?" Odd quipped, and Ulrich snorted in laughter.

"That's not...ugh..." Chris sighed in frustration, and Yumi laid a hand on his arm. Chris took a deep breath of his own, and continued.

"Look, Xana's probably figured out by now that Molly's double crossed him. If we don't take the fight to him, and do it _quick_, what do you think he'll do?" Chris leaned forward, tapping his finger on the half-empty plate of food in front of him in admonition. "He'll beef up the tower's security, change the access codes, and put this entire matter back at square one."

"So you'd have us go off on a half-baked attack? Especially after earlier?" Ulrich turned towards Chris, his face an impassive mask. Chris took a deep breath and turned to Molly, who cringed. "Molly, you're the one here who's our, ah, _expert_ on Xana. How long before he changes the access codes?"

Molly thought for a long moment. "Not long. One, maybe two days at the most. He's not overly concerned right now, but he's also not at full power right now. Once he comes fully back on-line, he'll change the codes and lock us out."

Jeremy sighed. "So we do have to act quickly." Chris nodded, and looked around. "Well, gang? How now?"

Yumi sighed. "They're right. We don't have a choice, much as I don't like it. Count me in, though. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Jeremy looked at Ulrich and Odd. Odd finished his mashed potatoes and looked at Jeremy. "Well, why not? It'll stop Xana, and maybe we can get a cure for the virus infecting Aelita."

"Ulrich?"

Ulrich took a bite from his roll, chewed it thoughtfully. He swallowed it, and looked at the ceiling. "Yeah, I'll go."

"I'll go, too." Molly looked up from her meal, as Ulrich snapped to attention. "Molly, no. It's too-" Molly raised her hand and cut Ulrich off. "I know how dangerous it is, Ulrich, but I have to. I can't give anyone else the access codes. They won't work for anyone else. It's the only way."

Ulrich brought his fist down on the table, making dishes jump. Chris leaned over and put a hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "Steady, buddy. She's right, and we both know it. I know we both have different reasons for not wanting her to come, but she's got to."

"And I take it you're coming along?" Ulrich passed a glare at Chris, who grinned.

"Of course. 'Fer crying out loud, Ulrich, you know full well I wouldn't miss _this_ fight." Chris leaned back.

"I guess we're decided, then." Jeremy looked around him at his friends. "We go first thing in the morning."

There was a general noise of agreement, and Chris pumped a fist in exaltation. Odd shook his head. "Dude, you are _so_ not Crono." Chris looked down, a sad expression on his face. Odd groaned, slapping his forehead as Yumi burst into laughter.

* * *

Night had fallen, plunging Chris' room into the dull black and whites that moonlight brings. Chris himself was seated in the windowsill, gazing out over the small city. Somewhere out there, Yumi would be sitting down, apologizing to her parents for being late in coming home- 

A soft knock on the door roused Chris from his thoughts. He turned as the door opened, and in stepped-

"Yumi?"

The raven-haired girl nodded. "My parents are letting me stay at the school tonight. Told them our little group had plans in the morning, and I didn't want you guys to wait."

"I see. I take it you'll be upstairs, then?"

Yumi nodded again, and sat on the bed next to the windowsill. She leaned gently on Chris, and looked at him. "Chris?"

"Yes, love?"

Yumi blushed, and lowered her eyes. "Would you sing something for me?"

Chris paused, and ran a hand through his blond hair, circling it around back to his chin. "Anything in particular? Or should I just choose something at random?"

Yumi smiled and laid back next to Chris on his bed, remembering a night not so long ago where they'd fallen asleep next to each other from sheer exhaustion at the violence of the night's events, and another one before that, where Chris had been singing to the night air and Yumi had heard him. She wrapped her arms around him lovingly. "Mine to me. My angel," she whispered softly, and Chris smiled. "You still haven't answered my question."

Yumi was silent herself, thinking for a moment. "Something that you think represents you."

Chris thought about it, for a moment, then began singing.

_"__Prison gates won't open up for me  
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'  
Oh, I reach for you  
Well I'm terrified of these four walls  
These iron bars can't hold my soul in  
All I need is you  
Come please I'm callin'  
And oh I scream for you  
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'_

_Show me what it's like  
To be the last one standing  
And teach me wrong from right  
And I'll show you what I can be  
And say it for me  
Say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth saving me_

_Heaven's gates won't open up for me  
With these broken wings I'm fallin'  
And all I see is you  
These city walls ain't got no love for me  
I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story  
And oh I scream for you  
Come please I'm callin'  
And all I need from you  
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'_

_Show me what it's like  
To be the last one standing  
And teach me wrong from right  
And I'll show you what I can be  
And say it for me  
Say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth saving me_

_Hurry I'm fallin'_

_All I need is you  
Come please I'm callin'  
And oh, I scream for you  
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin', I'm fallin'_

_Show me what it's like  
To be the last one standing  
And teach me wrong from right  
And I'll show you what I can be_

_And say it for me  
Say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth savin' me  
Hurry I'm falling_

_And say it for me  
Say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth savin' me."_

Yumi rolled over on her side, leaned in, and kissed Chris' cheek gently. "Thank you. I...I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yeah. You can even wait outside my door, if you'd like."

Yumi slapped his shoulder playfully, rolled off the bed to her feet, and left Chris to the silence of the moonlight.

* * *

"Beautiful, aren't they?" 

Molly turned, blushing slightly as Ulrich approached the bench she was huddled up on.

"Yeah, I guess."

"What's wrong? Sissi throw you out?"

Molly shook her head. "No."

"Then what?" Ulrich plopped down on the bench beside her and looked at her.

"I'm scared, Ulrich." Molly looked up, tears glistening like smooth diamonds in the moonlight. "I'm scared of what might happen."

"If we beat Xana, you mean." Ulrich looked at her. Molly nodded. "Ulrich, I...I was meant as a knock-off of Yumi. Meant as an agent to double cross and betray you...Ulrich, if Xana goes, then I'll..." Molly broke down crying, and Ulrich gently wrapped her in his arms. "Ulrich, I'm scared that I simply won't be...I don't even know who I am..."

"I know who you are." Molly looked at Ulrich, sniffling softly. "You're Molly Tallisibeth Argent, a student at Cadic. You're one of the most sharpest people I know, a devastating fighter, and even if you're not trusted, I think you're a Lyoko Warrior."

"Ulrich..."

Ulrich pulled her close. "You're not Yumi. You're not Xana. You are Molly. I don't care what Chris or any of the others think. You have my trust, and my heart, should you want them."

Molly rested her head on Ulrich's shoulder and sobbed into it. "'Sides, if Chris makes an issue of it, we'll have that rematch."

"You...You've fought him?" Molly looked at Ulrich in disbelief. Ulrich nodded. "Yeah...Yumi started hanging around him and I got pretty jealous. We had it out one time during PE."

"So...what happened?" Molly asked in a small voice. Ulrich chuckled. "He won. I was trying to show off, using a style I'm not very familiar with, and I couldn't concentrate with the crowd..."

"Really?"

"Yeah...If we do have to have it out, this time I'll use Silat. That ought to even the field somewhat." Ulrich leaned his head on Molly's, and they stared at the moon for a long while.

* * *

"Are...are you sure, Jeremy? It sounds dangerous." 

Jeremy sighed. "I know, but Chris and Molly are right. We have to take the fight to Xana."

Aelita frowned, her gaze drifting downwards on Jeremy's monitor. "What do you think will happen if we fail?"

Jeremy sucked in a breath. "I'm trying not to think about that." Aelita looked up.

"I wish you were here right now, Jeremy. I'm really scared."

"Me too, Aelita."

* * *

Sissi looked up at a soft knock on the door. She strode and opened the door to find Odd. 

"Oh. You. What do you want?" She asked, half-turning away from Odd.

"Sissi, I, um….Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

"What?" Sissi turned back to Odd, a look of shock forming over her face for an instant before her normal scowl returned. "Why would I go to the dance with _you_? What about that _Sam_ girl?"

"Sam and I broke up….we had a pretty big fight. She just….." Odd threw up his hands. "Forget it. Forget I said anything. You can go with Herb or Nicholas. Just…never mind." He turned to leave.

"…I'll go, Odd."

Odd paused, but didn't turn back. "Odd, I said I'd go. That's what you want, right?"

"…Sissi? Thanks." Odd walked off, leaving Sissi to watch his retreating back.

"What was that about?" Molly asked as she came up the stairs.

"Nothing. It wasn't anything to worry about." Sissi stepped back into their room. Molly followed, watching her roommate carefully, and shut the door.

* * *

Dawn's rosy fingers filtered through the dusted glass of the abandoned factory. Chris stood by the elevator as Yumi and Ulrich jumped off the ropes and slid to a stop. 

"You ready for this?" Ulrich asked, and Chris nodded. Yumi gave him a quick hug, which Chris returned with a small smile. Molly and Odd then landed.

"Odd. Molly."

"Chris." Molly responded, walking to stand next to Ulrich.

"Mornin', dude. Didn't hear you leave." Odd stood squared shoulderd with his usual half-stupid grin on his face.

"'Cause I wasn't singing. Come on, let's end this. Jeremy's below already. All we need to do is get into the scanners." Chris led the way into the elevator, and Odd hit the button.

Chris was tapping his foot, and Molly glanced over. "Nervous?"

"Theme to an old TV show stuck in my head, actually." Yumi glanced at Chris.

"Really."

"All right, yes, I'm nervous. But I really do have that theme stuck in my head." Chris sighed and leaned against the side of the elevator. The back wall started to lift, revealing the door to the scanner room.

"Well, try singing it," Yumi suggested. "That should get it out of your head."

"And stuck in ours," Ulrich muttered to Odd, who giggled. Yumi glared at the two boys, and Chris stuck his tounge out at them for a moment.

"Well, go ahead, sing it." Ulrich admitted. "Might boost our spirits a little."

Chris shrugged, and began to sing.

" _No turning back, no backing down_

_No where to run, no solid ground."_

The kids filed out of the elevator slowly

"_No place to hide, no one to trust_

_No one to help you when you're lost_

_There's only us."_

Yumi, Ulrich, Molly, and Odd stepped into theirs. Chris stepped over the side into his.

"_It's all in your hands_

_Hold on, hold back the darkness_

_Gotta take a stand"_

The scanners doors clanged shut, the last line of Chris' singing echoing in the chamber behind them.

"_It's all in your hands…"_


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"This is it."

Chris glanced at the open spot of virtual ground where Molly had indicated. "Are you sure?"

Molly, now in a green body suit with the same black armor and gauntlet, whirled around with an annoyed look on her face. Ulrich suppressed both the urge to groan in frustration and to hit Chris over the head with the flat of his katana. Chris had asked that same question no less than a half dozen times.

"Chris, if you don't knock it off, you will be spending the rest of this fight in reality." Yumi's annoyed voice cut into Ulrich's thoughts, and Ulrich allowed himself a tight smile.

"Yes'm."

"You may want to step back a little...thanks." Molly closed her eyes and concentrated. The effect was immediate. Virtual symbols swirled briefly around Molly and the spot glowed. As the display died down, there was a soft rumbling as the ground rose.

"Whoa..." Odd murmured. The dull green ground of the forest sector split open to reveal what looked like-

"-A head. Xana's head?" Aelita asked softly after a moment. Molly was silent, before she answered "...No, I don't believe so." The gigantic, metallic head opened it's mouth, revealing a passage down.

"...Hoo, boy..." Chris muttered, his hand gripping Yumi's nervously. Yumi looked at him.

"Scared?" She asked.

"I'm trying to remember how many of those kid's stories have lines in them about going 'into the giant's belly'." Chris looked sheepish, and Yumi smiled softly.

"I will not let you fall, Chris."

"Thanks, love."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this, remember?" Ulrich piped up. Chris nodded, and headed down the stairs. Yumi followed him, Molly her, then Ulrich, Aelita, and Odd brought up the rear.

"There should be an elevator not too far down- there!" Molly gestured with her sword, and Chris caught the direction out of one corner of his eye. She pointed at a round platform at the base of the stairs.

"Where does it go?" he asked Molly.

"The core."

"Lyoko's core?"

Molly sighed in frustration. "Yes, Captain Obvious! Lyoko's flipping core!"

"Sorry, it's just...given what the void can do, actually going into Lyoko's core strikes me as a tad bit...dangerous." Chris stepped onto the platform. Yumi slapped the back of his head as she stepped onto the platform.

"If you're that nervous-"

"All right, all right. I get the picture." Chris sighed as Odd stepped onto the platform. There was a flicker of blue light from the base, and the lift began to descend.

For a long moment, everything was quiet. Ulrich looked around. Everything was the same shade of blue. Geometric shapes outlined the shaft, but there were no variations in color, no real sense of design.

At his shoulder, Chris heaved a sigh.

"Unhappy?" Ulrich asked, as Yumi slowly rolled her head around towards Chris.

"Disappointed, actually."

"Disappointed." Yumi arched an eyebrow, and Chris nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, I understand the sterile feel, but you know, I was expecting something a little more..." Chris raised his arms in a helpless gesture.

"Grand?" Odd tried, and Chris nodded.

"Yeah, that's it. Grand. A river of blue fire, a mountain of black glass, something grandiose like that. You know, more over the top. The sterile blue just doesn't feel like Xana."

"Yeah," Odd agreed, "It is kind of a let down, isn't it?" The other four kids were silent as they thought.

Yumi, for one, hadn't actually considered what Xana would use as surroundings. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Chris had a point. Xana was prone to mellow dramatics in his attacks and schemes, but his surroundings didn't show it at all.

"Molly?" Aelita asked suddenly. "You know why? I mean, he is your dad-"

"He's not my..." Molly started angrily, and cut her self off with a deep breath. "I don't know. My guess is that this portion, the passage into the core, is hard-coded. Means he can't change it without changing the master programs that govern both Lyoko and the supercomputer. The deep tower I know he controls, but this portion..."

"I see." Aelita was silent. Jeremy had mentioned to them earlier that he'd be out of contact while they were in Xana's Tower, and she felt scared without his voice around to reassure her.

"So Xana could've booby-trapped the deeper tower?" Ulrich asked. Molly sucked another deep breath. "Honestly? No, I doubt it. We're coming to him. He'll want to deal with us personally."

"Great...Down to the final boss fight." Chris muttered, and Odd grinned. "Yeah, just that near-impossible final battle against the biggest, baddest boss you've ever seen!" The pointy-haired boy exclaimed.

"Was thinking more along the lines of Kefka or Lavos, but whatever." Chris drew his sword and held it, as if it's weight was reassurance against what they'd gotten themselves into.

Yumi sighed at the two boy's video game references, and looked around her. "You regret any of this?" She asked Chris.

Chris looked thoughtful for a moment. "Honestly? I just don't know."

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Let's jut concentrate on dealing with whatever we find, okay?"

"All right." Chris agreed.

* * *

The rest of the ride down the tower was had in silence. Ultimately, there had been a massive change in decor. Obsidian crystal tiles floor. Red stone statues carved in mockery of either humanity or some dark alien god were set into niches. Cold sapphire stone arches rose to a ceiling of equally black crystal.

"Et tu, Xana?" Chris muttered, whether in awe or admiration, Yumi couldn't tell.

"Come on, let's get this over with." Ulrich strode off, displaying what he hoped was confidence. His katana was in his hand. Odd and Aelita moved after him, more slowly, eyes wandering the ebony hall as if they expected the statues to come to life and attack them.

"Now I wish I'd spent a little more time playing Zelda..."

Chris managed a smile at Odd's quip. Molly drew her own weapon. "Come on, Isabella," the blond said to her weapon quietly. "Let's go catch up with Ulrich."

Yumi pulled her fans out, but stopped at Molly's comment. "Isabella?"

"Her sword. Whip. Whip-sword. Thingy." Chris said, trying to explain. Finally he just threw up his hands and let it drop.

"She named it?" Yumi asked him in bewilderment.

"Western mythology usually has named mystical weapons." Chris admitted, and then promptly regretted his words.

"And Eastern mythology doesn't?" Yumi inquired angrily. Chris held up his hands. "Well, I've not found many. Most of the time, eastern blades bear the names of the person who forged them."

"Masamune, you mean?"

"Yeah. I just don't know where she got the name Isabella from." Chris started to move off, and Yumi kept pace easily.

"You named your sword, I take it?"

Chris flushed. "Uh...heh heh...Yeah."

"What's it's name?" Yumi asked.

"I'm not saying." Chris held up his hands at an annoyed Ulrich further down the hall. Yumi grabbed his wrist and spun him to face her.

"Care to say why not?"

Chris sighed. "This is gonna sound stupid." Yumi crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Because a sword's name gives access to it's power. And if everyone knows it's name-"

"-Everyone can use it's power. You're right, that does sound stupid." Yumi stared for a long moment.

"Come ON, you two!" Ulrich shouted. Yumi held up a hand to indicate Ulrich should be patient.

"Please, Chris?"

Chris closed his eyes in thought. A long moment passed. "It's Weigraf."

"Weigraf?"

"As in Beowulf's friend Weigraf." Chris' eyes opened. "Happy?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Chris." Chris blushed furiously at Yumi's statement, and the kiss on the cheek which followed it.

"You're welcome." Chris turned and walked somewhat crookedly towards the others. Yumi laughed.

"Ready, Romeo?" Ulrich asked angrily, and Chris grinned.

"Only if you are." Chris just grinned, and Yumi allowed herself a small smile.

Molly rolled her eyes and opened the massive stone doors. They moved surprisingly easy.

"So...you have come." The voice drifted from inside. "Please...come inside."

The six kids walked into the darkened room.

"Close...The door."

Aelita did so with some reluctance, and the blackness surrounded them. Slowly, blue flames erupted from braziers that circled the room.

"This is...to be it, then? All of you...against me?" The figure in the black cloak rose from his chair and strode down from the short dais to stand in front of the kids. "It hardly seems fair...to you."

"Are you actually going to do something? Or are you going to talk us to death?"

"Well...my dear Odd, I intend to do something." Hands raised to the cloak's black hood, and it lowered to reveal a worn, hawkish face framed by blood red hair that was beginning to grey.

"I intend...to destroy you all here and now...and then to get your little friend Jeremy, as well." Xana's hand drifted down to his belt, and drew a sword of pure blackness. It wasn't black in the traditional 'no light reflects off it' sense, but in the sense that there was no existence in the blade.

"Today...We end this cheap facade."

With that, Xana leaped at them, swinging the blade at Ulrich. Ulrich barely brought his katana up in time to counter it, and Xana forced him back. Aelita dove for cover behind one of the braziers, and Yumi hurled a fan.

Xana's right eye flicked, catching Yumi's motion. The blade came up, deflecting the fan all to easily. Molly dove in, extending Isabella as far as the weapon's whip form could reach. It punched through Xana's shoulder as though nothing were beneath the cloak.

"So. The prodigal daughter returns?" Xana grabbed the line and pulled Molly towards him. Molly tried to spin out of the way, only to shriek as the black blade cut into her very real shoulder.

"You disappoint me! What a useless daughter!" Xana laughed, grabbed Molly by the collar piece of her armor, and threw her easily into the wall. The blond haired girl slumped to the ground and didn't move.

"Chris!" Yumi called. Chris stood, eyes closed. "Chris! Help us!" Yumi called to him, a slight tremor of fear invading her voice. Chris' eyes snapped open, and he lunged forward, his own sword raised.

"Xana!" Chris bellowed, and Xana turned, raising his own blade to meet Chris'. Chris parried him expertly and sliced his own blade through Xana's wrist. The joint swirled, and the hand stayed attached. Xana leered evilly, then backhanded Chris.

With a grunt, Chris collided with one of the brazier, which extinguished as it toppled over. Yumi ran over to help, but stopped dead as Chris rose from the floor. Chris raised his sword, which was surrounded in brilliant cerulean flame.

"_Crystalis shot!"_

The energy bolt tore through the air, and slammed into Xana, throwing the red haired man to the ground.

"That's it...Odd!"

The cat boy had heard and turned a graceful back flip, landing next to Chris. "Laser Arrows!"

"Crystalis shot!"

The two boys let fly with everything they had. It worked, pushing Xana backwards, finally slamming him into his chair and knocking the whole bit over backwards.

Chris and Odd stopped their barrage. Xana staggered back to his feet.

"So...you think you can do it? You think..." Xana's body twitched. "Think you can..." Another spasm wracked Xana, followed by another. His jaw opened impossibly wide, and the face tore away like paper.

"Defeat _me_!?"

"Second form coming. Hang tough, guys." Chris stood, bringing his sword up. Odd spun a new load of arrows into his gauntlet. Yumi readied her fans. Molly staggered over, retracting her blade into its normal sword form. Ulrich stood, his katana in a high-ready position over his head.

Xana's cloak fell, and a new form towered over them. Pulsing brown flesh and white bone grew as the insane AI leered down at them with it's death-head face.

"_I am Xana. I am all. You cannot defeat me."_

"Yeah. Right. Let's end this."

Xana flexed it's right hand, and a blade of bone extended from it.

"_All who defy me must perish."_

With a howl, Molly and Ulrich lunged together. Both blades gouged Xana's flesh now, and with a grin, Chris leaped forward, bringing his sword around in a massive downward slash. Yumi threw her fans as hard as she could, and they sliced cleanly through Xana's torso. Odd punched holes at various points with his arrows.

Molly lunged in, but the inhuman Xana brought his arm around. Molly let a strangled gasp escape her lips as the massive bone sword stabbed into her.

"_MOLLY!"_

Ulrich's shout cut through the air. Xana ripped the blade free, and Molly Argent dropped bonelessly to the ground.

"No, Molly, no!" Ulrich collapsed next to her unconscious form.

Chris turned his head and stared.

She hadn't deserved that. He watched Yumi try to comfort Ulrich to no avail, but his eyes kept returning to Molly's limp form.

_She. Hadn't. Deserved. That._

He felt the black rage rise in him again, and he grabbed a hold of it. He had to _use _it, to make it work for him, _turn it around-_

"Aelita! Take Molly and wait for us at the elevator!"

"But-" The pink haired girl started.

"Don't start! JUST DO IT!"

Aelita lifted the blond girl's unmoving form into her arms and ran out of the chamber.

Yumi and Ulrich turned to look at Chris just as the tall, lanky boy leaped forward with a howl. He brought his now flaming blade around again, and again, and again...

Xana staggered backwards from each blow. Chris refused to let up, to let him regain his footing. Finally, the massive bestial form fell to it's knees.

"_It doesn't matter how many times..."_

The ground cracked open, and Xana began to merge with the core of Lyoko itself. Massive, raptor-like wings grew, as it's legs merged with the core.

"_You try to defeat me. I rise again!"_

Ulrich stepped forwards. "In that case, we'll give you _further to fall!_"

Before anyone could react, Ulrich had swung the katana twice, severing Xana's legs. The cracks leading to the core continued to open, and Xana realized that he may have made a mistake. Massive arms scrambled for a hold, but Chris and Ulrich brought their swords down, severing his wrists.

With a howl, Xana vanished into the core.

Odd looked down. "We just beat Xana. What now?"

Chris opened his mouth, and the room shuddered. Chris' mouth shut for a moment as the cracks began to open further still.

"I think-" he admitted after a moment- "That Xana was a load-bearing boss, so the answer to your question would be RUN!"

Chris grabbed Yumi's wrist and tore out of the chamber, dragging the raven-haired girl along behind him. "Abandon ship! Chrises and Yumis first!"

Odd and Ulrich spared one another a brief glance, and then ran after them. The ground in the chamber collapsed as the core began to consume Xana's tower.

The other four kids looked behind them as the tower was dragged down by the sheer force of the core. Chris turned around in time to trip over Aelita, who'd been sitting at the edge of the elevator, and toppled onto the lift. Yumi fell on top of him, and the other two boys stopped on the lift.

"Come on, come on," Ulrich muttered as the lift rose, almost too slowly for his like. It gathered speed, and finally stopped at the base of the stairs. "Come on!" Chris called, dragging Yumi up the stairs.

Aelita followed, carrying Molly's body. Odd trailed her, and Ulrich brought up the rear.

Ulrich paused at the entrance, watching the downward motion of the steps below. He vaguely heard Jeremy mention something about the vaccine to Aelita's virus, but paid it no mind as the core's devastating grasp hypnotized him.

"Ulrich!"

Odd's call brought him around, and Ulrich leaped into the virtual daylight...


	15. Epilouge

Epilogue

The entrance to Xana's tower crumbled into, then through the ground of the Forest sector. For a moment the howl of metal shearing apart as the forces of the core hungrily devoured the remaining structure.

"It's over."

Yumi's voice sounded tired as she leaned against Chris. Chris, in turn, leaned against his sword.

Odd looked out at the scene before him. "Never thought I'd actually get to see this." Aelita nodded in agreement, too stunned to believe it. Lyoko was free. Xana was gone.

"Jeremy, you got that vaccine added in yet?"

"Just a couple more minutes, all right?"

Ulrich was silent, holding an unconscious Molly in his arms. Chris turned and looked at them.

"Come on, Molly, you've come this far," Ulrich pleaded softly, so softly that Chris nearly missed it. Pushing Yumi upright, he staggered over tiredly.

"Jeremy, any troubles if I head back early?" he asked the open air.

"No, why?"

Chris knelt next to Molly. "You crossed me, Molly Argent," Chris spoke softly, "But you don't deserve to die from it. You don't deserve my hate, and my anger about it. Yumi's given me a reason to move beyond that."

Chris clapped his hands together softly, then placed them on the ground. "Gaea Transference."

With a burst of light as his remaining life points transferred to Molly, Chris vanished back to Earth. Molly stirred gently in Ulrich's arms. She brought one hand up, caressed Ulrich's face gently. "You didn't leave me. Why?"

"Because...because I care." Ulrich managed the phrase gently, and Molly shot into his arms, throwing her arms around his neck tightly.

"Thank you...thank you." Molly sobbed into Ulrich's shoulder, and he held her tightly.

"I'm ready, guys. Initiating Code Earth."

Lyoko blurred around them, and Earth came into focus. The scanners opened, and the kids piled out.

* * *

The next morning:

With a sharp double beep, the alarm went off. Chris rolled over, squinted at the display- 6:45- and sighed.

Class wasn't until 7:45, so why had he set his alarm so early?

His eyes widened as he realized the reason: Yumi was coming for breakfast this morning.

Roughly five minutes later, he bolted out the door, hopped a few times as he finished tying his right shoe, and sped down the hall, past Jeremy and Ulrich, and leaped down the stairs. Ulrich blinked as Chris' shout of "Come _on_, you two! Let's not keep everyone waiting!" echoed behind his retreating form.

Jeremy looked at Ulrich, who shrugged. "Yumi?"

"Yumi."

* * *

Chris leaped onto the banister and slid (or, more honestly, grinded on his sneakers) down, tensing for the inevitable leap near the end. He timed it perfectly, snagged the strut in the stairs overhead, and swung over the top of Jim's head.

"Hi, Jim. Sorry. Bye, Jim."

Jim whirled around in time to see the door to the dormitory swinging shut and blinked. "One of these days..." Jim muttered sourly and turned to go back upstairs.

* * *

"And one more thing, Odd: Don't you dare embarrass me at the dance tonight! Got it?"

Odd managed a weak grin as Sissy jabbed her finger in his face. Sissy ignored the placating gesture.

"Remember, you're being graced with my company tonight," Sissy said, turning to the side and striking a pose. She opened her mouth to continue, but Chris leaped onto the fountain's edge without stopping and caught her in the elbow. As Chris leaped to the bench nearest the fountain, Sissy managed a half-strangled squawk of surprise as she was toppled off balance and fell headlong into the fountain.

Odd hauled her out gently, an apologetic look on his face. Sissy turned a glare on Chris' retreating back. "He has no sense of priority, does he?" She asked Odd, who shrugged.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure he does, but they just aren't the same priorities we have."

* * *

"Well, I'm glad there's someone else here from Lyoko besides me..." Aelita said, blushing a little. Molly laughed, and Yumi managed a smile.

"And we're all on the same side, at least-" Yumi paused at the sound of running feet, and managed a laugh as Chris continued his full-tilt run towards both them and the cafeteria. "Hold that thought. Something tells me I'm going to have to play drag chute."

She stretched out her arms and caught Chris, who had enough velocity to spin them both around and almost completely off balance. With a howl of laughter, the two of them toppled over, Aelita and Molly joining in the laughter a few moments later.

"Ow...I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you don't need to be going at full velocity to get here." Yumi smiled at Chris, who managed a small smile of his own.

"Yeah, I don't think Sissy appreciated my speed, either. I'm pretty sure Odd had to fish her out of the fountain." He paused as a couple drops of water fell into his face, and he glanced up to find a wet, bedraggled, and above all else angry Sissy glaring down at him.

"Oh. Sissy. Uh, hi. Look, I'm kinda sorry about the whole 'knocking you into the fountain' business, but I was in a hurry and OOOOOF!" The last word was accompanied by the air forced from his lungs as Sissy planted her heel in his midsection.

Chris gasped for air, as Odd managed an apologetic smile at Chris and Yumi.

"Okay." Chris muttered as he gasped for air. "I deserved that."

"Yes, you did." Sissy spun on her heel and stormed off, muttering about how much work it would take to re-apply all her makeup.

Yumi managed to stifle her laughter momentarily. "Come on, let's go get some food."

* * *

"So, plans for the day?" Yumi asked the group.

"The usual. Then I've got to go get my suit out. First formal event I've been to in a while." Chris shrugged.

"You ought to see Yumi at the informal ones." Odd said jokingly, earning a glare from Yumi herself, Chris, and Ulrich.

"Aelita and I need to finish registering for classes. And then Yumi's taking us dress shopping." Molly admitted.

Sissy slapped a tray down and sat next to Odd. Chris frowned, and lowered his head in a manner that reminded Yumi of a tortoise, and she smiled.

Chris quickly finished his breakfast and left, and Yumi glanced down at her tray. Dismissing it as uninteresting, she stood. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"Chris!" Yumi called out. He turned, looking at her.

"Yes'm?"

She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. For the first time she could remember, he returned it with an almost natural feeling. "You okay?"

"Didn't want to get hit again."

Yumi managed a soft chuckle, and Chris looked. "You wanting another song, I take it?"

"I've got one- part of one, at least- for you, actually." Yumi blushed slightly. Chris smiled warmly.

"Let's hear it, then."

Yumi took a deep breath.

"_Into your life_

_Into your dreams_

_Out of the dark_

_Sunlight again_

_You can't explain_

_You can't explain_

_Can you feel it?  
Can you feel it?_

_Rushing through your hair_

_Rushing through your head_

_Can you feel it?_

_Can you feel it?_

_Don't let nobody tell you your life is over_

_Be every color that you are_

_Into the rush now_

_You don't have to know how_

_Know it all before you try..."_

Chris broke into a wide grin. "Beautiful." And with that, the bell sounded. "I'll see you at the prom, okay?"

Yumi nodded, and ran off to class.

* * *

The prom was in full swing. Molly, in a stunning blue dress, hung on to Ulrich's arm, as Ulrich watched poor Sissy blush at Odd's antics. "It's going to be a long night," Molly told Ulrich as Odd danced the Funky Chicken across the middle of the gym floor. "Oh? Is she really going to be that upset?"

"You have to ask?" Molly asked Ulrich incredulously. Before Ulrich could answer, Yumi swept up to them in an ankle length black gown.

"You guys seen Chris?" she asked the couple, who shook their heads.

"I haven't. Aelita and Jeremy might have, but they're getting some punch." Molly indicated the general direction with her head, and Yumi headed off.

* * *

"Oh, Yumi!" Aelita smiled at her friend. "Chris said to tell you he was going up to the roof if you wanted to join him."

"The roof?" Yumi asked, and Aelita shrugged before Jeremy led her off to dance. Yumi turned, glanced about to make sure nobody would notice, and snuck off to the stairs.

"Was wondering when you'd get here." Chris' voice was soft, but bemused.

Yumi flushed. "Why're you up here? Why not downstairs with-"

"-With everyone else? Honestly? I wanted some peace before I went and mixed with crowd." He sighed and looked out over the school and what little of the town he could see.

"What're you thinking?" Yumi asked, coming up beside him, taking his hand in hers.

"About my dad, and my life since I came here."

"Oh?"

"You asked me back in Xana's tower if I regretted any of it. I didn't answer you."

"I remember."

"You still want one?"

Yumi thought for a moment. "All right."

"No."

Yumi looked at him, gazing deep into his eyes. "I wouldn't change anything, Yumi. For all the hurt, I've finally got people willing to help me through it. I've got someone who cares about me, and I've got a life worth living here and now. If my dad doesn't ever understand it, that's his loss."

"Good." Yumi kissed his lips quickly, and looked up at him with a smile. Chris held out his hand.

"So, my dearest Yumi, shall we dance among the stars?"

Yumi giggled, took his hand, and they swept into a slow dance. She took the opportunity to look back into those eyes, eyes the color of the sea during a storm. The actual storm behind them had calmed, and they reflected a deep sense of peace. She smiled happily and laid her head on his shoulder.

Everything was perfect.


	16. Afterword

Afterword

Movie is over. Credits are rolling. Anyone who feels like leaving can do so now. Go ahead, I won't take offense. You're not missing much. Not that you know about, anyways.

Still here? Good.

Okay, yeah, I know. It's imperfect, and it's not what everyone wants. You didn't like it? Well, that's your opinion, isn't it? There's plenty of other Code Lyoko fics out there, I know. But even if you didn't like it, you read it, and I thank you for that. Reviews or no, just having people read it is important. At least, it is to me.

Another thing: My spelling is inconsistant with the spelling used in the show. If you haven't taken a look at the publishing date up top, let me tell you: I started this over three years ago now. There wasn't as much information available to me- not in English, at any rate- and I was stuck using a three-page Wikipedia entry (Compared to however many pages of articles now), plus whatever could be gleaned from those first season episodes. Hence, my improper spelling of the school name (It's supposed to be _Kadic_, not Cadic.) and my usage of the English spelling for Jeremie's name (ie, Jeremy).

Nowadays, of course, I know better, but there's more information in English nowadays, and my understanding of French is a heckuvalot better than it used to be.

Let's see...oh, yeah. Songs I used. Gotta name those. Folks who actually made and sang them deserve credit. Listing is by group, then song title, then chapter (by my numbering) the song is found in:

Ill Nino, _How Can I Live?_ (Chapter 4)

Seether feat. Amy Lee, _Broken_ (Chapter 4)

Ill Nino, _This Time's For Real_ (Chapter 8)

Nickelback, _Savin' Me_ (Chapter 12)

Artist Unknown, _Animorphs Opening Theme_ (Chapter 12)

Aly & AJ, _Rush_ (Epilouge)

Anyone who cares to talk can either e-mail me at Yahoo (silverthorn2000) or usually find me on MSN Messenger at (Hotmail) silverthorn2000 , or under the screenname Silver. You've got a better chance by e-mail, though, as I usually check that more regularly than I sign onto MSN.

Not much else to say, and the credit time should be almost up.

Hm. Don't they usually sneak something in after the credits in movies these days?

-SilverThorn-2000, October 6th, 2007

_

* * *

_

_Overhead, unnoticed by either, a raven flew past, headed to a spot on a factory several blocks away. It landed, briefly, on the shattered window of the factory's control room, before taking to the air again._

"Not dead..."

_Inside the control room itself, a monitor flickers briefly, before dying again._

"Not dead yet..."

_The monitor flickers again, then comes to life, a red eye superimposed on the darkened background._

"Only temporary...Only a temporary body..."

_The monitor dies again, and then the whole bank flickers to life, each a part of the larger image: The Eye of Xana._

"You've not beaten me, children...not yet...You only destroyed a temporary body...my spirit remains intact. We'll be seeing each other again, very soon..."

_Laughter wells, and as it begins to echo, the monitors die._

_Fin._


End file.
